Games
by pLei4fun
Summary: Games are the norm for our favorite NJBC: Love games, war games, etc. But it's senior year and that just means that the stakes are even higher. Sequel to the Queen and her Dark Knight can Blair, Serena, Chuck, and Nate make it to the end of their high school careers unscathed and together? We'll find out. Chair always, but the rest is up in the air.
1. Welcome to the Hamptons

**Disclaimer: I will say this only once this story. I don't own Gossip Girl TV show or otherwise, BUT my mama has a Netflix account that I get to use to stream the series so I can watch it over and over again to give you my stories!**

**Chapter 1**

**Unlike the rest of us, sex, lies, and scandal **_**never**_** take a vacation. Instead, they take the Long Island Expressway and head east to the Hamptons. Some would say summer is their busiest season. Think Park Avenue, but with tennis whites and Bain de Soleil. The players change, but the game remains the same.**

Hands burying into the back of his hair as lips press and suck on him as he pulls her body against his as he takes the kiss deeper. Letting his hands roam up and down her thighs, giving her round hips a healthy squeeze of encouragement as she swivels them onto his lap to get just the right reaction out of him as he releases a groan in pleasure and in return she releases a soft giggle of enjoyment at what she's doing to him.

"_This has to be up there with one of the best summers of my life," _Nate thought silently to himself as he let himself get swept away in the moment with the woman currently straddling his lap in his front seat. When the Captain fled the country Nate didn't even want to be around the rest of his family and decided to devote his summer to just forgetting his problems and have some fun. It was after this decision that he met Catherine. Sure she was married, but as the way of the rich, it didn't necessarily mean that she was unavailable. And if the current heavy make-out session was anything to go by, she was definitely available.

"Mmm. I've been waiting for this all day," Nate whispered as the two broke for air, grinning as he pulled her even closer as he kissed down her neck.

Catherine closed her eyes as she exposed more of her neck for him to peruse as she whispered back, "Mmm. Are you sure Serena's still okay with covering for you? She was a little cold."

Nate shook his head lightly as he responded, "Oh, she's totally fine."

The two continued getting hot and heavy when Catherine pulled away to ask, "But you haven't told her anything?"

Nate again shook his head as he ran his hands over her exposed skin as he licked his bottom lip, "Al she knows is that I'm seeing someone I'm not ready to introduce to anyone just yet."

Just before Nate could continue with their previous activities, Catherine pushed him up against the back of the seat with force and a look of warning, to which he quickly fixed his mistake, "Or ever. Look, she needed time to decompress from her breakup anyway." Nate slowly made his way back to her lips, kissing her lightly as he continued to calm her down from being discovered, "Covering for me works for her, too."

Catherine finally let herself be in the moment as Nate buried his hand into her hair and began to suck on her neck hungrily. She turned her head to take his lips with hers, only to pause at the sound of a car driving by. Nate sighed as he waited for her to relax once again so they could continue and was surprised when she offered, "Let's go to my place before somebody spots us."

"Your house?" He asked, not bothering to hide his surprise. Catherine smirked and nodded playfully as she leaned towards him, "I thought we couldn't."

"There's always the guesthouse," she explained with a smile after one kiss. The two laughed before continuing on, not in a big rush to get to safety.

Yes this was possibly the best summer of Nate's life. The hiding and mystery definitely made the affair much more exciting. He was only bummed that with the end of the summer came with the end of the affair. But Nate didn't want to stop and think about what would happen at the end of the summer when the reality of his situation comes crashing down around him. Right now, he just wanted to focus on his other need about to be fulfilled.

**xoxo**

Chuck sighed as he leaned back into his lounge chair on the beach. There was something about the Hamptons that just relaxed him. It wasn't the same relaxation that a certain brunette instilled in him, but it was a close second. The thought of the brunette in question brought a smirk to his face. They'd been apart for a few weeks now, but they remained in constant contact despite the distance. Chuck never thought that leaving her to come back to New York early for this guys' trip that his father had set up for them and Eric would be one of the hardest things he had ever done, right up there with telling her his true feelings the first time.

"I shudder to think what that smirk is all about," Eric commented as he glanced over at his step brother beside him.

"It's called love, my dear brother," Chuck responded, his smirk growing, as he continued to speak, "One day you'll meet someone who'll illicit this kind of response from you without even actually being around and then you'll understand."

Eric smiled, "I have to admit that I didn't expect you, with your reputation, to be reveling in the life of being in a committed relationship, but being happy definitely suits you."

Chuck nodded in agreement, "To be honest I never considered happiness to be an option in our world until recently."

"With the way the Upper East Side couples work out? It's not too surprising to come to that conclusion. I'm just glad that you've become the exception. Gives me hope that maybe I can be happy too," Eric spoke softly as he looked out to the ocean.

"If I can find someone to be happy with, I can say without a shadow of a doubt, that you will find someone. My advice to you is that once you find someone who makes you happy, don't let anything stand in the way of that," Chuck shook his head at his surprisingly thoughtful advice as he heard their phones go off in synchronization. Him giving actual good advice to the younger Van Der Woodsen had become the norm ever since his father and Lily came out of the proverbial closet about their relationship.

He took out his phone and read the Gossip Girl blast and smiled a bit at the intel that he already knew about:

**Spotted: Blair Waldorf at Charles de Gaulle, homeward bound. What could possibly make Queen B. abandon her two dads before Labor Day? We bet Chuck Bass knows…**

"What do you say about us going out tonight? See what we can do about finding you someone that makes you happy?" Chuck smirked over at his brother playfully.

Eric sat up eagerly, "Sure, sounds great. I guess with Blair no longer being an ocean away, I have to enjoy this time while I can."

The brothers chuckle a bit just as a certain blonde passed by, rolling her eyes in disdain as Chuck answered, "I promise you this little brother: I'm always here for you to talk to, no judgment."

Eric nodded softly, "I know. It's been a good summer, at least better than last year's."

Chuck smirked a bit to himself as he stood up from his lounger, "The summer isn't over yet though."

Eric nodded again as he stood up too and walked with Chuck back to the house to change for dinner. Silently reflecting on all that has happened over the course of the past year; remembering how alone he felt to the point that he hurt himself in order to be able to feel something. Now he was in the Hamptons with his new brother after spending some quality guy time with his new step-father. Having the new step-father wasn't new for Eric, but it was the quality guy time that was a whole new experience. It felt good to be able to have someone there who has been through it all and had no regrets about it while encouraging Eric to do the same if it was what he wanted. Despite what a certain blonde said from time to time, Chuck Bass was a great sibling when it counted.

**Also spotted: Serena Van Der Woodsen on Cooper beach, alone again. We've heard talk that things are heating up with Nate Archibald. And where there's smoke, there's usually fire. But if that's the case, why has Nate fallen right off our radar and Serena, as always, sighted solo? Wonder what she would do if she knew Lonely boy wasn't so lonely anymore.**

Serena sighed as she watched Chuck and her brother walk off toward the house as she got settled on her beach towel by the water. She was glad that Eric had someone to talk to and hang out with. Although she would have preferred it if it was anyone other than Chuck, but with the way her mood had been going over the summer, she knew she couldn't be picky. Though she'd never admit it out loud, Chuck was great with her brother. Sure he encouraged Eric to get into a bit of trouble, but it was really nothing compared to what Serena had gotten up to when she was around Eric's age.

Serena began feeling the familiar pang of grief as she recalled this time last year. She remembered how she begged her mother to let her come home after hearing about Eric's episode. She remembered feeling guilty for running away from the city in the first place and how if she had just stayed and told the truth she would have been there for her brother when he needed her, and her she was once again not being the sister that Eric deserved.

She didn't know why but, Serena just couldn't stop thinking about Dan. He broke her heart when he broke up with her at her mother's wedding. She understood that she wasn't perfect, and it was because of that lack of perfection that she was so scared to tell Dan the truth. She already almost lost him in the beginning with her past truths and she lost him again because of other truths. Serena couldn't help but think that maybe she should have fought harder to change his mind, but then she would find herself shaking her head. She couldn't force him to be with her if he realized that she simply wasn't as good as he once thought.

Serena pushed her hair back as she leaned on her other hand, letting her head fall back towards the sun. This was the main source of her sour disposition this summer and she wasn't able to really talk to anyone about it. And with the way that people in her circle talked she was even grateful when Nate approached her about the idea of faking a summer fling with him while he pursued someone new and Serena was able to wallow a little bit in self-pity without judgment.

Before she could think too much on the subject, a shadow was cast over her, blocking the sun. Serena opened her eyes and took in the sight of a cute lifeguard. "Hey, I'm Matt," He introduced himself with a smile.

Serena forced herself to smile and be friendly even though she was far from interested, "Hey Matt, I'm Serena."

Matt nodded as he lowered himself to her level, not fully sitting as he mentally worked up the courage to ask his next question, "I've seen you around and I was wondering, if you were available, that maybe we could hang out later?"

"That sounds really nice...," and it did, to be able to have fun and just forget about her problems for a little while, but Serena just couldn't find it in her to get motivated to get back out there so soon, "but I'm just going through some things and I'm not sure if I'd be much company."

Serena looked down at the sand at the sight of the lifeguard's obvious disappointment at being rejected, "Oh, okay. That's cool. But if you happen to change your mind, I'm here around this time for the rest of the summer."

Serena smiled brightly as she watched him go back to his post. He really did seem nice. Maybe she'll call Blair later to see if she could come to the Hamptons to maybe help her out of her funk before school started and she'd be forced to see Dan on a regular basis.

**xoxo**

Chuck sighed to himself as he came back from the bathroom, dressed for his surprise pick up of his girlfriend. He glanced at the peonies lying on his bed with a smirk, knowing that Blair would love them as she always did and stood in front of his mirror to fix his hair. It would be the first time he had seen her in about a month and for some reason he was feeling nervous about the big reunion. He ran his hand through his hair a few times, satisfied with what he saw when he heard a light knock on his door.

"Wow, look at someone making an effort. You must be pretty nervous about something to go through all of this," Serena teased as she walked further into Chuck's room.

Chuck just rolled his eyes and rested his hands on the top of his dresser with a sigh, not amused as he lied, "Ha ha, sis. I'm on my way out to Lily Pond."

He didn't see the point in telling Serena his plans for the night, the blonde couldn't be trusted to keep a secret and Chuck had worked meticulously ever since he overheard Serena talking on the phone with Blair about her coming to East Hampton tonight on the Jitney. The fact that Serena knew about Blair's plans and he didn't resulted in Chuck realizing that the brunette was planning something. He glanced over at Serena as she glanced around the room, mentally scolding himself for leaving the flowers out by all to see.

"Then what are the flowers for?" she asked lightly as she leaned against the dresser, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she continued with her "investigation", "You wouldn't perhaps have overheard a recent phone call with a certain best friend of mine who mentioned she's on her way out here on the Jitney?"

Chuck kept his face blank as he glanced at Serena and asked ignorantly, "What's a Jitney?"

"If that's your way of saying no, then I'm glad to hear it. I still can't believe that you left Blair in France for a month and stayed here instead. If I were Blair I wouldn't forgive you," Serena scolded.

Chuck slowly turned towards the blonde as she went on her usual rant ever since he returned to New York early. You would think that since Chuck had confessed his feelings and spent the bulk of his summer with Blair in Europe before returning only to spend time with his own father and new brother that he would be given a little slack. God knew Blair understood and even encouraged him to stay in New York after the trip was over. In response, Chuck made it up to Blair by texting and calling on a regular basis throughout the month.

He didn't know if Blair was putting these passive aggressive thoughts in Serena's head or if the blonde was showing her natural hair color again so Chuck just usually ignored her, "Who told you that little piece of advice, you "boyfriend" Nate?"

"Nate didn't say anything," Serena rebuked with a shake of her head upon her high horse. A horse, Chuck was more than happy to knock her down off of.

"Good, 'cause I don't think it's wise taking relationship advice from somebody in a fake relationship," Chuck smirked at the sight of Serena freezing at the truth, "Call me crazy."

Chuck turned and gathered his jacket and the flowers as gave his final send off as he left Serena standing alone in his room, "Enjoy another night alone with your thoughts."

**xoxo**

Blair sighed contently as she looked out the bus window, smiling softly. It was great to be back in the states. Don't get her wrong, she loved Paris, but there was just something about New York that made it feel like home to her. Maybe it was the sights and sounds, or maybe it was just her friends and family, but Blair Waldorf knew that she couldn't stay in Paris for much longer knowing that something, or in this case _someone, _was waiting for her here on the other side of the ocean.

"I don't think I've ever seen that look on your face outside of your fathers' chateau, Blair," James said softly in his English accent beside her.

Blair turned her head towards him with a look of confusion, "What look?"

"The look of contentment that you have on your face; ever since we've come to New York it has been a permanent fixture. I admit that it suits you," James responded with a soft smile.

Blair sighed softly as she let a smile grace her lips as she rested her head against the back of the seat, "It's just good to be home. I love Paris, but New York…New York holds my heart. I've traveled extensively, but I have yet to find a place that made me feel the way New York did."

James chuckled a bit, "Sounds as if you never gave any other city a chance to win you over."

Blair shrugged lightly, "What can I say? There's just no place like New York." Blair smirked at her traveling companion, "Obviously it has hooked its claws into _you _since you traveled so far from home for business and family."

James nodded, "Yes, I can definitely see the appeal of it. Not to mention I look forward to see all of the places and meet the people you've told me so much about while we were in France. Especially this Chuck Bass you've told me about. I feel like I know him already, and I hope that he and I could be great friends."

Blair nodded in agreement, her smile growing brighter at the mention of her boyfriend. She found her thoughts taking her back to the beginning of the summer when the couple spent a few weeks alone in Tuscany. They took up the sights and sounds of the beautiful Italian countryside after spending a significant amount of time in their hotel room. It was absolutely perfect. They continued their trip to Lyons where they spent some time with Roman and daddy, allowing them to get to know Chuck a lot better than they were able to during Christmas. The only damper to the vacation was that Chuck had to leave for New York early so he could take part in the guy's trip that Bart had set up with Chuck and Eric towards the end of the summer. Blair would admit that it was a great opportunity for the three of them to form a bond as a family, but she didn't enjoy having her time with Chuck cut short. But she smiled and gave him a goodbye to remember before seeing him off at the airport with promises to see each other soon after the guy's trip ended a couple of weeks before school started.

The first couple of days after Chuck left, Blair was a shell of her usual self and spent a lot of time at the Chateau with Roman and Cat to help with the decorating of the house. But on the days that it became too much, she would go to the city to take part in some retail therapy or go to a local art museum. It was on one of these little trips that Blair had met James. He approached her about one of the featured works and they began to have a conversation that led to them meeting for coffee and eventually becoming friends. When he told her that he was coming to New York towards the end of the summer, Blair couldn't believe how perfect it was. She would definitely take it upon herself to show him around and meet the right people in her circle. Blair did pride herself on always having god foreign relations; you never know when you'll need an ally from the most unlikely of places.

As the bus came to their stop, Blair was brought of her thoughts. They had arrived and she couldn't wait to see the look on Chuck's face when she made her appearance. As she stood up and followed after James as he took her carry on into his hands, she considered texting Chuck and reflected how romantic it would be if Chuck met her at the Jitney stop as a surprise. But Blair knew that she gave up on the romantic notion when she didn't even mention it to him that she was coming this evening. She sighed as she slowly stepped down the stairs and off of the bus, smiling appreciatively as James set her things down and turned towards her. He lifted up one of her hands and placed a gentle kiss on the back of it with an accompanied smile. Blair's smiled turned forced at the display of affection as she watched James turn away from her to gather the rest of their bags.

As Blair took a look around to see if the car service that she ordered had arrived yet, she saw something else entirely that made her pause in disbelief. There he stood, just as she had envisioned not five minutes previously, waiting for her with a bouquet of peonies and his signature smirk. The sight of that smirk caused Blair to beam as she slowly made her way over to her boyfriend.

"Chuck Bass, what are you doing here? I'm supposed to be surprising you at the house," Blair spoke, not at all as annoyed as her sentence led people to believe.

"I wanted to surprise you first," Chuck replied simply before offering up the beautiful bouquet to her, "For you."

Blair smiled at the flowers as she accepted them, not wasting any more time as he leaned towards her and kissed her as if they had been apart for far too long. To Blair, that was how exactly it felt as she returned his kiss passionately, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body against his.

Chuck reluctantly broke the kiss, resting his forehead against hers, panting as he whispered, "I missed you."

Blair laughed lightly as she just enjoyed being in his arms as she whispered back, "I missed you too."

"This must be the Chuck Bass I've heard so much about," James spoke up, making his presence known. Chuck frowned at the intrusion as Blair did her best to refrain from rolling her eyes as she turned towards her traveling companion.

"Yes, this is Chuck Bass, my boyfriend," Blair smiled as she made the introductions, "And Chuck this is James, the friend I made in France."

"It's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Chuck," James spoke politely as he offered his hand for a shake.

Chuck purposely ignored the offered hand and forced a smile, "Of course, I remember your mentioning of him. I'm just surprised that he's here in the states."

Blair immediately sensed the tension as James dropped his hand, "I had some familial obligations that I needed to take care of here in the states, and I offered to accompany Blair to the Hamptons since I was already heading this way. She was kind enough to offer to show me around the social scene here."

Chuck looked at his girlfriend and raised a brow that screamed that the two of them would talk about her bringing home strays at a later time. Blair simply smiled and gave a light shrug as she caught Arthur out of the corner of her eye gathering up her luggage and putting it in the back of Chuck's waiting limo as Chuck responded with the manners that had been instilled in him, but he never bothered to show, "Of course. The more the merrier."

**xoxo**

Blair stretched out on the lounger by the Van Der Woodsen pool and looked over at where she found her best friend in her designated spot in shock. Blair made it a point to not spend the day in bed with Chuck, as much as she wanted to after being apart for so long. There was a lot she needed to do before the Vitamin water White party later on in the week, not to mention catching up with Serena and the rest of the social scene in New York. Besides, last night her and Chuck more than made up for lost time.

Blair smiled as she reminisced. After quickly reconnecting the best way they knew how, in the back of his limo; Chuck had continued on with his romantic surprise with dinner ready up in her room. The two ate and drank and made love in ways that Blair didn't think possible outside of romance novels. It wasn't even until dawn broke on the horizon that the couple finally drifted off to sleep in each other's arms. It wasn't much too long after, before Blair forced herself to leave him in bed alone as she went off to find Serena.

Blair had an idea that Serena wasn't nearly as well of as she claimed to be during their phone calls throughout the summer and Blair was on a mission to get the truth and do her best to fix it. She knew that the blonde took the hit pretty hard when that Brooklyn rat dumped her at her mother's wedding despite how good of a front Serena put on, but she had no idea how bad it was since she wasn't here to witness it firsthand. Sure Chuck kept her posted as best he could but for three weeks he was traveling with Eric and Bart and then for the last week he was continuing the bonding time with Eric since it was about time for his anniversary since his accident. In the end Chuck wasn't able to keep as close tabs as Blair would have liked on her blonde counterpart.

"So how has your summer been? The truth this time," Blair demanded with a light smile as she took a sip from her smoothie beside her.

Serena sighed a bit before responding, "It's been fine, I haven't really done much other than just…relax."

Blair frowned in shock as she placed her glass down, "You didn't do anything all summer? Please don't tell me you just sat around watching "The Closer" and eating takeout from Nick and Toni's."

Blair pushed her bangs off her face and found that she actually paused at Serena's soft response, "No, Della Femina," before giving a smirk that rivaled one Chuck Bass as she took another sip from her glass. Blair decided to clear the air on all the rumors circulating her best friend over the course of the summer while she was away, "What about all those rumors I heard about you and Nate?"

"Mnh-mnh-mnh," Serena shook her head forcefully, "Completely untrue. They just got people off my back about being sad, and then Nate could do whatever he wanted, so it worked out for both of us."

Blair genuinely couldn't believe what she was hearing. This was Serena Van Der Woodsen she was talking to! "You're telling me you didn't have any fun with _anyone _all summer?"

Serena had the grace to realize how bad of a position she was looking and looked away from her best friend before coming back with something to redeem herself a bit, "Oh, there was this hot lifeguard that asked me out," at the look of excitement on Blair's face, Serena quickly wrapped up with, "But I, you know, I-I turned him down."

"What? Are you crazy?" Blair asked, seriously questioning her best friend's sanity as Serena just looked at her, "A hot lifeguard is like Kleenex: use one and throw away. You couldn't ask for a better rebound."

Serena shrugged helplessly, "I don't think I'm ready. I-I still miss Dan sometimes…more than sometimes…," Blair rolled her eyes and nodded as she looked away. This was worse than she originally thought as Serena finished her sentence with, "All the time."

"The only thing lamer than dating Dan Humphrey is mourning Dan Humphrey," Blair said firmly, deciding that some tough love is in order to get her friend out of her funk, "And the only reason you're still sitting shivah is because you haven't gotten back out there and had your summer fling."

Before Serena could respond, Chuck appeared from inside with, "I woke up alone, you know how much I hate that, Waldorf."

Blair looked over her shoulder and smiled at her boyfriend, fully dressed and ready for the day as he walked up behind her lounger and kissed the top of her head as he had done so many times in the past before circling around to sit at the foot of her lounger as she responded, "I know, I'm sorry, but you looked so peaceful. So I came out to catch up with Serena."

Chuck reached over and took Blair's hand in his, lacing them as he asked, already having forgiven her when he found her outside with Serena, as he grinned, "And what were you two talking about?"

"The summer," Serena quickly answered, "and this amazing necklace that Blair's dad gave her."

"Which one?" Chuck asked curiously to his girlfriend.

Blair smiled as she let Serena steer the conversation away from her love life, "The Bulgari pearl choker with a B on it."

Chuck nodded in recognition as he smirked at the memory the jewelry brought forth, "I remember that one. I particularly loved it when you modeled it for me."

Blair shook her head as she smirked back, knowing exactly what he was referring to as she picked up her glass and took a drink, "It was definitely a great summer."

"I have to admit that I'm surprised that you weren't talking about James though," Chuck brought up the subject he really wanted to talk about.

"James? Who's James?" Serena asked confused.

"A stowaway that Blair brought home from Europe," Chuck quipped as he glanced at Serena briefly before going back to watching his girlfriend.

Blair rolled her eyes and sighed, "He's not a stowaway," she smirked before continuing, "He's a friend that I met not too long after a certain boyfriend of mine left for a boys' trip with Bart and Eric. He was already coming to New York and he had some family matters in the Hamptons so he joined me on the Jitney."

"Sounds like a gentleman," Serena responded as she watched the couple carefully.

"Why doesn't he join us for dinner tonight so we can _all _get to know him?" Chuck offered, still not convinced that this James could be trusted to be in their circle, let alone worthy.

"Sounds great!" Blair beamed in excitement, she wasn't naïve enough to believe that Chuck was fully on board but grateful that he was at least willing to be social as he gathered his information, "I'm sure you'll like him just as much as I do."

"That remains to be seen," Chuck responded as he stood up from his spot, kissing Blair's lips slowly, lingering before saying his goodbyes, "I'll leave you two to bond. I'll see you at 7."

Blair smiled as she watched him leave, taking another sip from her glass before turning her attention back to her best friend, "Now, how about we go find that lifeguard?"

**xoxo**

After leaving Blair and Serena by the pool, Chuck decided to take advantage of his free time and spend it with Eric. Knowing that the younger Van Der Woodsen did not have many friends available to him since he took so much time off last year while he was at the Ostroff center, not to mention when he finally was able to come back into the fold he spent the rest of the year interacting with Jenny Humphrey before she dropped him to climb up to better social views only to fall hard because of her ambitions, it was easy to say that Eric Van Der Woodsen was basically starting over on the social scale this year, and Chuck would do his best to insure that his now brother would have a better experience than last year.

When Chuck couldn't find Eric inside the house he found him at the next location: the beach. Chuck smirked intrigued as he saw Eric walking along the coast on the phone, wondering who he was talking to. _"Maybe he's found a new love interest,"_ Chuck thought silently as he made his way over. The theory was immediately shot to hell as he caught the end of the conversation, "…alright I'll see you then Jenny, Bye."

"Eric," Chuck greeted, making his presence known to the sophomore.

Eric quickly glanced over his shoulder to see Chuck with a weary look, obviously wondering how much Chuck had heard of the conversation, "Chuck. What a surprise, I would have thought that you would have been spending the time catching up with Blair."

Chuck smirked he motioned for the two to continue walking together, "That was the original plan, but she realized that Serena needed her more than I did at the current time and I figured that it was for the best since you and I have spent so much time together. Imagine my surprise though to overhear that you've let little Jenny Humphrey back into the fold."

Eric sighed, knowing that with that one sentence that Chuck had heard enough of his phone call and decided to come clean, "It's a new development. She just called me up out of the blue just now with an apology in hand…"

"And let me guess," Chuck attempted to fill in the blanks, "a request of a favor in the other."

Eric nodded, "Basically. Call me naïve, but before Jenny went over to the dark side, she really was a good friend to me. And it's not like I'm in the position to turn down friends. Even if they are the bitchy, backstabbing, selfish sort."

Chuck sighed softly at Eric's predicament, "You know you're going to have to tell Blair, right? If only to avoid a scene and to keep the peace."

Eric nodded again in agreement, "I'm not stupid, Chuck. I may have forgiven Jenny for what she's done to me and my family members, but I have not forgotten. I'll watch her for any signs of her reverting back and if I see it, I'll cut my losses then and there."

Chuck pursed his lips silently before responding, "It's your life, Eric. You're free to be friends with anyone you choose, but I just don't want you to be in that bad place you were in last year just because you decide to trust certain people."

Eric understood where Chuck was coming from and how important loyalty was to him _and _Blair. If anyone made the mistake of hurting someone these two cared about once, there wasn't any such thing as second chances for them. And Jenny was considered written out of their minds as someone not worth their time and effort. Call Eric a masochist, but he was willing to give Jenny this last chance to show that she was a worthy friend.

"I hear what you're saying, Chuck, and I admit that I didn't just welcome her back as my friend lightly. It's her last chance and if she goes back to bad habits, I'm done," Eric explained, the last thing he needed was more drama in his life.

"So what was the favor she wanted?" Chuck asked curiously as the two continued walking together after settling on the same page in regards to the Jenny Humphrey situation.

"She needed an invite to the Vitamin water white party later this week," Eric replied as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, "She wanted to show off this dress that she made during her internship with Waldorf Designs, ironically enough."

Chuck raised his brows up at the new information and stored it for later use, "In that case you definitely need to let Blair know beforehand to avoid an impromptu take down."

The two chuckled together softly, knowing that Blair was the type to kill first and ask questions later when it came to protecting those whom she loved. "Maybe you could also work on distracting her over the next few days?" Eric asked, "At the very least pull a promise from her to stand down."

Chuck smirked, "Eric, I'm afraid I have to disappoint you. The only one who could extract that kind of promise from Blair is you. _You _were the one that Jenny hurt the most after Blair herself. You want her to stand down; you're going to have to get her to swear to it."

Eric knew he was right, and he also knew that the sooner he set the whole thing in motion the better. The last thing Eric wanted to do was worry about a Waldorf waging war.

**xoxo**

A few hours later, Blair made her way out to the patio where Celia Rhodes, Serena's grandmother and Blair's host, was holding dinner. Everything seemed to be going according to plan for Blair; she had just saw Serena off with her lifeguard rebound date. Granted Serena was very reluctant to the point that she was thinking of backing out after she saw the guy's car. Blair had to work hard from rolling her eyes at her best friend's objection of the Camaro. It wasn't as if she was going to live the rest of her life with the guy. It was just one date and maybe even a fling to get Serena back to her old self and get over her Brooklynite obsession.

"There she is." Blair smiled politely as Chuck announced her presence to everyone as he made his way over to her, kissing her lips lightly before whispering, "I was beginning to think you'd be a no show, Waldorf."

Blair smirked playfully as she laced her hand into his as she replied, "Worried that you'd have to go through an entire meal without me? And to think you've grown used to it over this past month, Bass."

Chuck returned the smirk as he led the way for the table, "I have gotten used to it, but I didn't enjoy it then and I certainly won't enjoy it now that I have you back."

Blair felt her smile grow bigger at his comment as she turned to welcome their guest, "James, I'm glad that you were able to join us."

"Thank you for the invitation, Blair. I admit that I'm excited to get to know all of your friends in person after hearing all of the stories you've told me over the past month," James replied politely as he smiled at the table that included Celia and Eric as Blair sat down on his right and Chuck took his place sitting at the head of the table on her right.

"So, how did you two meet?" Chuck asked as the help began to serve the first course.

James smiled as he reminisced aloud, "She was standing at one of my favorite paintings at the fine arts museum in Lyon, Il Veronese."

Blair smiled and nodded as she took a sip of iced tea from her glass as James continued on, "She looked so sad as she looked at it that I felt that I had to talk to this beautiful woman."

As James glanced at Blair she in turn looked down at her plate, remembering that day herself and how sad she really was that day. Chuck had just left to go on his guys' trip with Eric and Bart and Blair was still adjusting to not having him by her side and with their contact being limited to phone calls and text, it wasn't the easiest of transitions for her. "Yes, Chuck had just left earlier that week, and I'll admit that I missed him," Blair replied with a soft smile as she looked over at her boyfriend who smirked back at her.

"We went to lunch and we talked about her life in New York and we became practically inseparable ever since," James added, "I feel as if I've known Blair forever."

That sentence alone was practically an issued challenge for Chuck and he immediately began a very unsubtle quiz, "So, James, did you have a chance to meet Harold and, uh…what is his boyfriend's name again?"

Blair frowned as she gave Chuck a pointed look, knowing exactly what he was doing as James responded politely, "Uh, Roman? Only briefly at the chateau, although Cat didn't seem to like me nearly as much. "

Blair pressed her lips together in amusement as she remembered how ill received he was to the pet and it was the reason that they didn't spend too much time there. Celia chuckled as James continued on, "I have the scars to prove it."

It didn't escape her notice that Chuck didn't bother trying to hide his own amusement as he responded, "Really? I have to admit I'm surprised; I found her to be very sweet towards me while I was there for the bulk of the summer. Maybe it was your cologne…"

Blair closed her eyes and lightly shook her head as the two guys continued back and forth about who knew Blair better or was better liked. Blair admitted only to herself that James seemed to come off as more than a friend with the way he responded and was even competing with her boyfriend to the point that it was getting to be a bit embarrassing. She made a mental note to pull James aside later to make sure that they were on the same page in regards to their relationship as friends.

"Well, you certainly have crammed an awful lot into such a short time together," Chuck responded, seeming to have reached an end to his interrogation, "I wonder, has Blair had a chance to share her favorite movies with you yet? "Tiffany's," "Roman Holiday," and of course, "Charade."

Blair narrowed her eyes at Chuck with a slight smirk as James asked in confusion, "Oh, I thought your third favorite was "Funny Face."

"It is," Blair responded, not taking her eyes off of Chuck mentally screaming at him to just drop it, he had made his point loud and clear, "I hate "Charade." Chuck, stop it."

Sensing the tension rising at the table and ready to move onto another subject, Eric chimed in, "Yeah, uh, "How well do you know Blair Waldorf?" is kind of boring for those of us who actually know Blair Waldorf."

"Not to mention transparent," Celia added, locking eyes with Chuck.

"Well, thank you, Grandma," Chuck responded with a smirk as he took a sip from his scotch.

"Why is it when you say that word it sounds like an insult?" Celia asked as she tilted her head to the side.

Chuck grinned as he looked away, unable to deny anything. Despite the constant butting of heads with the elder Rhodes woman, Chuck and Celia had a mutual understanding and respect for one another and Chuck considered her to be a part of his family.

"No, no, I-I don't mind," James cut in, "I would like to learn as much as I can about Blair. Like I said, I feel as if I've known her my entire life. And there's no better way to check my memory than through a quiz."

"I'm sure you do, but Blair, like many others, is a woman of layers and very few are allowed to know her heart and the way her mind works," Chuck responded as he picked up Blair's hand in his gently, "It's a blessing and a curse."

Blair turned towards her boyfriend feeling as if the constant circular motion of the conversation was finally coming to an end, "And how exactly is it a curse, Bass?"

"Knowing someone better than you know yourself?" Chuck answered with a question and a quirk of his brow at her.

The couple had a silent conversation as the stared at each other for a few moments before they began to smile at each other, calling a cease fire as Blair responded, "Point taken."

Chuck's grin grew more pronounced at her words, knowing that his point had been made that this new comer was after far more than just friendship and decided to let it lie for now as he picked up Blair's hand and kissed the back of it lovingly before returning his attention to James. Catching the look of jealousy on the guy's face before he could quickly masked it. Chuck decided to do a little digging on this "James"; he got the distinct impression that he wasn't all that he appeared to be.

Blair shook her head and let out a short laugh to herself as the conversation finally moved forward. "So, James, Blair told me that you had business in the Hamptons these next couple of weeks?"

"Yes," James responded, "I had some family business in town. I'm expected to go to the Vitamin water White party and Blair was kind enough to offer to introduce me around to the right people."

Chuck's quick glance to Eric was the only sign of warning for what was to come, "Wonderful, that means you'll have the fortune to be introduced to Eric's date, Jenny Humphrey."

Blair paused at the sound of the freshman's name mentioned and looked at Eric as she asked, "Jenny's going to be your date?"

"Who's Jenny?" James asked everyone, feeling a bit out of the loop as Eric nodded a bit uncomfortably.

"This girl that goes to our school from Brooklyn," Blair quickly explained, not taking her eyes off of Eric as she continued the conversation, "I wasn't aware that you two were still talking after all that happened last year."

Eric sighed softly, knowing that Blair was inquiring out of concern for him, "We weren't until earlier today."

"Eric…" Blair spoke softly.

"I know," Eric responded firmly, "I'm not forgetting what she did or what was said and I'm definitely not making this decision lightly, but it _is _my decision. You don't have to like it, but I would like for you to support me; it's not as if she didn't get her comeuppance in the end."

Blair tilted her head slightly to the right as she though on it, knowing what he said was true, "Your right. I don't like it, but I will support you. BUT, the second she steps out of line again-"

"You will have free reign," Eric said in agreement, knowing that Blair's heart was in the right place.

"Good," Blair nodded in satisfaction.

"And I'll do my best to distract her from not striking until then," Chuck offered with a smirk, resulting in Blair rolling her eyes as she shook her head and smirked to herself.

The conversation continued on about the White party and the group was able to finally get to know James a bit more. Eric was glad that everything was out on the table about Jenny and he didn't have to worry too much about Blair declaring war. Blair was content with simply keeping a close eye on Jenny Humphrey, but overall she considered the girl just above irrelevant to her. After this dinner, Blair realized she needed to make sure that a war wasn't brewing between James and Chuck. After that display at the dinner table she knew that she had to be careful in order that Chuck could see that he had nothing to worry about. Chuck was slowly growing more suspicious of James. Maybe it was because he didn't let just anyone into his inner circle or maybe it was something more. Either way Chuck was definitely going to have his PI do a bit of digging, he wanted to know everything about him as well as his secrets.

**A/N: Hello my beautiful, wonderful readers, I'm back! I hope you all had a great summer, I know I did! I'm now a college graduate! :D I didn't get to write as much as I originally planned to on account of working my butt off on my last class this summer, but I have a vague picture on how I want the story to go. It's because of this that I'm giving myself more wiggle room on updates, which means that you are going to have to wait at the max 2 weeks instead of my usual 1 for a new chapter. As you can see I'm expanding to include POVs of the other half of the group because Serena and Nate actually had a lot going on in season 2 and with Chair not having to go through the whole will they or won't they about their feelings, I decided to take on Serena and Nate's problems to replace that angst. So obviously there's going to be some changes for the 2****nd**** season, but I hope that they are changes that you'll like!**

**I also wish to extend my highest gratitude to all of you and your reviews for the last story I did. It just warmed my heart and it just brought a huge smile to my face to receive reviews and alerts long after I've completed the story. I honestly feel that I have the greatest readers in the world and I hope that you love this story as much as you did the first one.**

**So! Review and tell me your thoughts and opinions so far, I'm open to suggestions and ideas on how to tackle the NJBC's senior year because there is a lot that happens, not to mention what are beloved Chair is going to do in regards to **_**after**_ **high school is over. Have a great Labor Day and I'll see you soon!**

**Love you all!**

**-Plei4fun**


	2. The White Party

**Chapter 2: The White Party**

"Damn that Mother-Chucker!" Blair exclaimed as both she and Serena left their latest stop of the late morning, smoothies in hand. After the dinner the previous night, Blair just needed some major retail therapy and a venting session with her best friend about the current problem in her life. Not to mention that she wanted hear about Serena's date with that lifeguard. "Ugh! He- he's totally right. James likes me more than just a friend. I don't even know _how _this happened. To be honest I don't even like him that much."

"Thank you. I was waiting for that," Serena sighed in relief before taking a sip from her cup, listening as Blair went on, purposefully refusing to think about what she saw the previous night. She knew she would have to say something soon and she had even tried to call Nate earlier, but she was in no rush to do it.

"I only spent so much time with him these past few weeks because Chuck was gone, and as much as I love daddy and Roman, they were too busy with the vineyard to keep my mind occupied. So when James approached me at that museum and I found out that he was coming to the states at the end of the season, I figured that he could distract me for a little bit and I could have a contact for a favor later," Blair shrugged to herself as she looked down at her cup, "Little did I know that I was so convincing that James actually thinks that he has a shot."

"Oh, B., I'm so sorry, but is he really that bad?" Serena asked as she looked at her friend sympathetically, "He sounds like he's a great guy from what you've told me about him at tea yesterday. Remember? Smart and fun?"

Blair sighed softly as she reflected more on her time with James before, "He's boring! Don't get me wrong I enjoy talking about me and my likes, but would it kill him to contribute to the conversation a bit more?"

"Okay, well what are you going to do then?" Serena asked.

"Well I agreed to go bike riding with him later on today, so I figured that I'll tell him the truth. I'm not interest in him as more than a friend and that I love Chuck," Blair nodded to herself as she turned towards Serena, "I mean the last thing I want to do is hurt him, but, if he leaves me no choice, I won't hesitate to do it. I've grown to enjoy having a tolerable amount of drama in my love life. Speaking of which, how was your date?"

Reference to Serena's night, forced her to remember what she saw on her way home in the lifeguard's car. Something that she was sure she wasn't supposed to have seen or known, but explained so much. Serena sighed as she mentally cleared her head of the secret she found out as she began to head inside another store, "After a few hours with that guy, I needed life_saving, _not guarding."

Blair smiled softly at her best friend as she followed after, "Baby steps, Ma Cheri. Baby steps."

**xoxo**

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Serena and Blair, Chuck and Nate were busy spending their own morning together up the same street. "I have to say, Nathaniel, I was surprised that you called earlier, you seemed to be quite busy since I've gotten back," Chuck spoke as the boys walked out of the local Starbucks with their iced coffees in hand.

"Yeah, it's been a pretty crazy summer," Nate responded with a shrug as the duo crossed the street, "Speaking of summer, how are things going with Blair?"

"They've been going well. Despite our short time apart this past month, we're still going strong even though she brought home a stowaway who would like to think otherwise," Chuck smirked at the thought.

"What is with you and new people?" Nate asked with a chuckle.

"Excuse me for being picky in regards to the company I keep," Chuck defended himself, "Besides there's something off about the guy. I just can't put my finger on it, but I can smell deception a mile away."

Nate shook his head at his friend, "Are you sure it's not because of the fact that he's interested in Blair that's causing your instant mistrust?"

"No, it just states that he had great taste," Chuck smirked before changing the subject, "By the way, Archibald, now that the summer's over, I can tell you I never believed any of the talk that you hit it with my sis."

Before Nate could respond though, Blair and Serena stepped out of the store they were just about to pass by. The girls stood in surprise as Chuck approached his girlfriend with a ready grin, "Good morning, Waldorf. Just the one I wanted to speak to."

"I'm not surprised, Bass. You _did _sleep alone last night," Blair quipped back without breaking her stride.

Chuck wrapped his arm around Blair's shoulders as he led her away from their blonde counterparts to speak with her privately, "The only reason I could come up with for my girlfriend to choose to sleep elsewhere is because she was angry that she was wrong and I was right."

Blair rolled her eyes in frustration, "Really?"

"Yes, really. And we both know that I am, and what needs to be done to fix it," Chuck paused, satisfied with their distance from the others, and turned towards her. "Although I have to admit I'm surprised that your Princeton man is nowhere to be found this morning. He should know that absence in his case will make you forget, not make your heart grow fonder."

Blair frowned in confusion, "James goes to Georgetown. And I'm meeting him later for a bike ride and to talk."

Chuck slowly shook his head, distinctly remembering that the stowaway said he went to Princeton while Chuck was talking to him while Blair was inside getting ready for dinner, "That's odd since he told me that it was Princeton while you were busy getting ready for dinner last night."

Blair sighed and shrugged lightly, "Well then you must have misheard. He's always going on and on about his crew division and his eating club. It's Georgetown all the way, but enough about that. By the end of the day, I will have made my feelings towards James very clear."

"Which is?" Chuck asked for clarification as he put conflict of information he acquired to the back of his mind for later and grinned at Blair, taking her hand in his.

"That I'm only interested in friendship and that I'm very happy and in love with my cocky, drunk of a boyfriend," Blair teased with a smirk of her own.

"Well it's nice to know that I'm loved," Chuck responded before leaning towards her and kisses her lips lightly.

Blair felt her smile grow more genuine as the kiss continued on while a little bit further up the sidewalk, Serena had pulled Nate towards her, "Nate, why didn't you call me back this morning?"

Nate quickly glanced over to his best friend and ex-girlfriend to be sure that they weren't overheard, "I can't talk about that here."

"When you told me that your secret girlfriend was older I thought you meant college. Not to mention, Catherine's married," Serena hissed. The visual of Nate running out into the middle of the street in only his boxers and sandals, clothes in hand as Serena's date almost hit him with his car flashed in her mind. At first she didn't know what was going on or why he was in the position, but then she looked toward the house where he came from and saw Catherine greeting her husband with words that sounded like "You're back early" and the scene became very clear as she watched her childhood friend run off down the street without a word.

"Catherine ended it with me last night," Nate explained softly, obviously not too happy about the development.

Serena looked at him in shock, "What? Tell me."

Nate shrugged, "It was supposed to be just a summer fling while her husband was away on business overseas. Now that he's back, it's over."

"Well, I'm glad to hear you're not seeing Catherine anymore. We can talk about it later," Serena responded with a feeling of relief, but still not a hundred percent sure that she got the entire story and planned to get it later when they were alone.

Serena was then joined by Blair and the two continued on with their shopping, leaving the guys behind to their continued plans of the day leading up the white party later. Chuck was busy still contemplating about what school James claimed to be going to as he walked with Nate down the street. He was sure that he heard him say he went to Princeton and if he did then James was lying. And if he was lying about something as unimportant as what school he goes to, what else could he be lying about? Chuck quickly dialed his brother's cell phone, knowing that the question of what was said and what was heard will be rectified quickly. "Eric, it's me. You were at dinner last night. What college does Blair's stowaway go to?"

At the confirmation that James told them that he went to Princeton, Chuck glanced at Nate who rolled his eyes and shook his head at Chuck's antics as Chuck continued on with his phone call, "Yeah, well, that's not what he told Blair. Do some research, junior. I'm in the mood to be proven right once again."

Chuck smirked as he hung up and walked with Nate to head on to their morning plans while Eric did some grunt work for him in regards to James. He knew there was something about the guy that was off, and the lie about where he goes to school gave him the perfect excuse to dig into the guy's background a bit more.

**xoxo**

A few hours later, Chuck, Nate, and Eric were to be found in the backyard of the Van Der Bass Hampton home playing croquet and catching up a bit more. Chuck knew that Blair was currently biking with James before she set him straight on where the two stood so he knew that she wouldn't be home anytime soon. This left him plenty of time to gain the information that he wanted to know about James' background as well as bonding with his brothers after spending so much time away from them this summer.

After a couple of rounds, Chuck considered it time to get down to business, "So, Eric, tell me what you found on Blair's new friend."

Eric looked up after hitting the ball with his mallet, surprised that Chuck was able to hold off on asking before now about what Eric found, but then again he was Chuck Bass, when it mattered most, he could be one of the most patient man on the Upper East Side, "So not only did James Schiller not go to Princeton, he also didn't go to Georgetown. In fact, I couldn't find a record of him at any of the big schools."

Chuck smirked to himself as he watched Eric took his turn, he knew something wasn't right about that guy as Nate asked the younger Van Der Woodsen, "Since when did you become Sherlock Holmes?"

Eric just looked at the guy that was like a surrogate older brother to him and said nothing before turning his attention back to Chuck, "So you think that James is-"

"An untalented Mr. Ripley?" Chuck responded before preparing to take his turn in the game as he continued to explain, "If you want entrée to the upper class, there's no easier mark than grieving woman. But in Blair's case, her grief was erased the second she returned home. All she needs is proof that he isn't who he says he is and she'll drop him." Chuck smirked as he looked off into the distance as he took out his phone, "I think it's time to call in the big guns."

Eric shook his head as he watched Chuck dial a number and lifted it to his ear, speaking with authority as he moved away from them, "Mike, I need a background check on a James Schiller…"

Surprised, Eric spoke aloud, "He's got a P.I. on speed dial."

All Nate could do was shrug before the guys were interrupted by a voice yelling in the distance, "Nate!"

Eric and Nate turned towards the back door of the house and saw that it was Serena and she did _not_ look happy. "I know that face. That face is not your friend," Eric warned as he quickly left the scene, not wanting to be a witness to what was sure to come. He needed to mentally prepare for this white party tonight anyway.

"My grandmother just informed me you told her I'm going to be your date at the white party this evening?" Serena accused him as she stopped in front of him.

Nate sighed, knowing that he was caught, but wanted to be the one to tell her instead of her hearing it from someone else. Before he could respond, Serena continued on, "If things are really over with Catherine, then why do I still need to be your cover? Huh?"

Nate pressed his lips together and looked down at the ground, he knew if Serena was going to go along with his plan he would need to tell her everything. And now was as good a time as any.

**xoxo**

Meanwhile, Blair was busy following through on her _own _plan with James. The two had been biking for about half an hour and it had become more and more obvious that James was far more interested in Blair than she was to him. It got to the point that Blair had to set him straight quickly before he did something that would make things even more awkward then they would be.

"James…" she started gently as they walked their bikes down the path, "The past month have been exactly what I needed them to be."

"Me too," he agreed, making Blair all the more nervous as he continued, "And there's something that I have-"

"Me first," Blair interrupted quickly, "I was upset when we first met in France. I was missing my boyfriend, whom I love, along with all my other friends here so much that when you approached me at that museum I was desperate for a friend. And I want to thank you for being such a good _friend_."

James smiled and nodded, albeit a bit forced as he responded, "I am grateful for your friendship too, Blair. Without you, I wouldn't be looking as forward to this upcoming party tonight. It can be very overwhelming to be surrounded by people you don't know at a social engagement and it helps to have a hostess as generous as yourself to help me."

Blair smiled, feeling as if James understood her clearly and nodded, "And I look forward to introducing you to everyone tonight, you never know when having a good contact can help you when you return to Georgetown next month."

James simply nodded and the two continued on with their ride back to the Van Der Bass' house so Blair could change for the night with plans to meet James at the party later since Chuck was escorting her. Blair was grateful that everyone was on the same page and she didn't have to worry about James trying anything later. She considered that after the white party tonight she should give the guy a bit of space, maybe arrange for him a date or two. The last thing Blair needed was someone pining for her.

**xoxo**

After Serena demanded an explanation from him about his actions, Nate led her further into the backyard by the fountains so they could talk in private, "Look, I know I shouldn't have used you again after our conversation this morning."

Serena rubbed her forehead as the pieces began to form a bigger picture as she glanced over at him, "You have feelings for her, don't you?"

Nate was surprised that she was able to figure it and all he could do was nod quietly as the two continued on with their walk. It was some time later before Serena spoke again, "Let's just be honest about why you want to go tonight: You want to check out the competition."

Nate looked over at Serena and forcefully replied, "No."

Serena just gave him a look that said she wasn't buying his denial before scoffing. Nate quickly tried to give his explanation, "I just- I want to see her and her husband together…just once."

Serena spoke slowly as if Nate were five years old, "Yeah, that's called checking out the competition, which is stupid and potentially dangerous, Nate."

Nate looked away as he nodded softly, knowing that she was right, but unable to help how he felt and Serena saw it. Nate did _not _have a good poker face and with all her personal feelings up in the air about Dan, she could understand probably better than most that as much as a person didn't want to have feelings for someone or wanted to let someone go, it's not always that easy.

Serena sighed as she realized what she was considering as Nate agreed, "Yeah, you're right."

"But…since I've been stupid and dangerous in the past," Serena found herself saying out loud, "I…I'm not one to talk, am I? It was probably going to be an uneventful evening anyway."

The two chuckled together at the truth of the statement. Serena looked at Nate, the guy who has always had a special place in her heart since they were small, and wanted to help him try and move forward, "Pick me up at 5?"

Nate nodded with a smile and pulled Serena into a hug of thanks, even during times like these when she didn't agree with what he was doing she was always there for him. As he watched her walk off towards the house to get changed for the party he smiled to himself maybe it was a good thing that Dan and Serena broke up, he admitted to himself that he missed having these one on one times with his friend.

**Sometimes the stars align for two old friends to come together. But sometimes they align for two old flames to totally combust. Wonder what the sky holds for S. tonight: Friendship or Fireworks?**

**xoxo**

The White party was in full swing by the time Blair and Chuck had made their entrance and they were in their element. Blair was socializing with the most influential people of the Upper East Side, while Chuck was engaging in business talk with a few colleagues of his father who wished to congratulate him on the success of Victrola as well as Bart's marriage. The wedding was months ago, but that did not stop the underlings from mentioning it at least once per setting. With the business talk over with, Chuck found himself spending most of his attention on his girlfriend beside him. When he came to pick her up after setting Mike to task on his new assignment, he was genuinely speechless at the sight before him. She looked exquisite and as pure as she was a year ago. The deception only resulted in Chuck's body responding to the need to get her dirty right then and there.

He remembered that Blair smirked at him as if she could read his mind and simply responded with a soft, "Later," before kissing his cheek affectionately and walking out to their waiting limo with Chuck looking after her with great longing. Later indeed. As far as Chuck was concerned, later was now; after the present company made their excuses to greet someone else at the party, he leaned towards Blair to whisper into her ear with a smirk, "Have I told you how much I love you in white? Something about the color puts out this façade of purity on you that I just can't wait to violate."

Blair smirked at his words, loving the attention he was giving her as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, "Violate, hmm?" she whispered to him as she turned her head towards him, "Maybe I can be persuaded to be ravaged…"

"You know that no one can ravage you as well as I can," Chuck quipped as he pulled her body back until it was flushed against him, resting his chin on her shoulder as he looked around the party, "Imagine. All of these people have no idea that you, Blair Waldorf, are a siren in disguise and behind closed doors…a hellcat."

Blair slowly turned towards her boyfriend, resting her hands on his shoulders as she teased, "What are you insinuating, Bass? That I'm not as perfect as I portray myself to be?"

"I would never think of insinuating that you are anything other than perfect, Waldorf," Chuck responded with his signature smirk as he slowly slid his hands down to her hips and down to her thighs, "You are perfect in every way."

Blair's breath caught, but before she could continue on with this game of words, the couple were interrupted, "Blair, there you are."

Blair forced a smile on her face as the two turned towards the newcomer while Chuck proceeded to glare at the interruption. Blair responded politely even though she was just as annoyed as Chuck with the interruption, "James. So glad that you made it. I was surprised that I didn't see you when we arrived."

"I just arrived myself," James explained with a smile, "Shall we begin with these introductions?"

Blair glanced over at Chuck, but before she could say anything, Chuck responded for her, "Go ahead. We'll finish our conversation later."

Blair smiled softly and kissed him briefly before taking James offered arms and reluctantly left to make the rounds, while Chuck watched on as he mingled, waiting for a call to let his suspicions be realized.

**xoxo**

Inside, Nate and Serena had been busy making their own rounds. Serena, being the social butterfly that she was, was floating from person to person with a bright smile as Nate stood on the sidelines, never taking his eyes off of Catherine in the distance with her husband. Nate had to admit to himself that the couple looked good together and the husband wasn't nearly as off putting as most husbands on the Upper East Side, granted the guy apparently was from England if what he overheard while making his rounds were correct.

Catherine was putting up quite a good façade of the happy housewife and if it wasn't for the fact that she kept glancing in Nate's direction covertly that Nate would have believed that he didn't have a chance of getting her to change her mind about them being finished. He knew he was playing with fire and that the consequences would be big if they were to get caught, but after spending an entire summer with Catherine, Nate had developed feelings for her. She was fun and creative and he wasn't going to lie, the sex was phenomenal. But maybe Nate _was_ kidding himself. Catherine was the kind of woman that usually stuck with her decision; Maybe Nate was just forming into a masochist standing here as he watched her from a distance.

At the sound of her laugh across the way, Nate was over being front and center of the supposed "happy couple" and moved over by Serena to lead her out of the sound and out by the pool so they could get a refill on their drinks. Serena seemed to understand and didn't protest as he purposely led them so that they walked by Catherine. Before they could get to the bar, the pair was stopped by a group of girls who wanted to say hi to Serena. Nate turned slightly as he caught sight of Catherine walking towards him and kept a calm face as she hissed at him, "Trying to ruin my marriage?" before she walked off.

Nate frowned at the implication not understanding as the group dispersed, leaving him and Serena alone. "Get me drunk?" Nate begged his friend.

Serena nodded her head firmly before taking his arm and leading him to the bar inside in the opposite direction of where Catherine went as she answered, "Absolutely." It was definitely going to be a long night and it was much too soon to be making their excuses to leave since the party had just gotten started. So the only option left was to get good and drunk and try to not make too big of a fool of himself.

**xoxo**

After introducing James to a few people here and there and gaining a drink for her efforts, Blair was once again finding herself walking alone and bored with her companion. She was barely paying attention as he prattled on and on about something or other while all she wanted to do was find her boyfriend and find a dark corner to make up for their time apart for the last month.

"…what I wanted to talk to you earlier is that my feelings for you have deepened, and I-," were the words that Blair heard when she tuned back into the conversation as the two walked. When did that happen?! When did the conversation switch from eating club at Georgetown to him, once again, talking about his supposed feelings for her? This was getting ridiculous and she really needed to make herself clearer; she thought she did that earlier when they were biking but it appears that Blair had to go into bitch mode. This is what happens when she tries to be nice. Blair sighed turned towards James to cut him off only to be distracted by Chuck across the way smirking at her as he silently asked to come and rescue her, resulting in her smiling back with a slight rolling of her eyes as she shook her head a little at him.

At the sound of a sigh from James, Blair turned her full attention to him with a slight furrow of her brow in confusion on what was it that _he _had an annoyance with before he simply walked past her out of the cabana and into the yard. Blair frowned as she turned and went after him, signaling to Chuck to give her a minute before she returned to his side.

When she finally reached him she asked with her best patient tone, "What's wrong?"

James sighed and turned towards her with his hands in his pockets, "It's just that…I know you were saying earlier how much of a friend I am to you, but I have to admit that I feel something more towards you." Before Blair could say anything though, James continued on, "I know that you explained that you were in love with your boyfriend, but I had hoped that I could change your mind. But just now while I was trying to find the right words to tell you, I realized that I didn't even have your full attention. Even with you standing beside me you were with him, and it makes me wonder: do you even like me? Or was I just something to kill time with until you returned home to a guy that left you for a whole month to gallivant around the world?"

Blair was offended at his description of Chuck and quickly focused on that part of the question, "First of all, he didn't leave me to go gallivanting around the world. He went to spend time with his brother and his father; something that I even encouraged."

James scoffed, "No wonder you despise "Charade". It hits too close to home."

"You don't understand. Chuck loves me, and I love him. And for you to insinuate that that isn't true, just to make yourself feel better about the fact that I'm not interested in you, is wrong," Blair retorted and decided to just let this whole thing go, "I admit that I did use you, okay? I was killing time until I got back home, and I honestly thought I did like you as a friend, but during this time we've spent together made me realize that you're kind of boring."

"Am I?" James asked, "Or are you just too interested in yourself to get to know me? I can't believe I was so stupid. Excuse me." With that James turned and left Blair standing there, shocked at his audacity to judge her even a little bit.

It was then that Chuck decided to make his presence known and walked over to stand beside his girlfriend as the stowaway stalked off in a huff. He'd overheard everything and he had to admit that he was relieved that the guy was gone. He wrapped his arm around Blair's waist as he spoke, "You really know how to hurt people. I admire you for it."

Blair scoffed and shook her head, "I'm just glad that it's over. What he thinks of me and you is irrelevant." Blair turned towards Chuck and smiled at him, "Now, Bass I do believe that I am in need of a drink."

"Allow me to accommodate you, my queen," Chuck smirked as he steered her inside with his arm still around her waist as they walked together, unable to shake the feeling that they hadn't quite seen the last of the supposed "James".

**xoxo**

Serena led Nate through the throng of people surrounding them, trying to come up with a way to cheer him up. She had to admit that, with the exception of Nate's situation, she was genuinely having a good time at the white party. With her locking herself away for most of the summer and thinking about Dan she missed her friends and getting out and socializing. Maybe she _will_ be okay once school started again and she had to see Dan on a regular basis, if not she'd at least have Blair to help her with a better distraction then eating take out and watching TV all night.

Serena glanced over at her friend at the sound of his sigh, she had successfully got him a few drinks since the last encounter with Catherine and she figured that he would do well with a bit of walking around, but it didn't seem like it was helping him to lighten his mood. She smiled affectionately at her dear friend as she gave his arm a gentle squeeze, "Come on. Cheer, Charlie."

Before Nate could respond, Serena sighed as she saw they were about to pass the object of Nate's depression and purposely looked in the opposite direction as they passed, catching that Catherine had whispered something into Nate's ear as she passed which made him even more down than he already was. Serena watched the older woman walk away quickly and refused to remain silent as she asked him, "What did she just say to you?"

Nate scoffed as the two continued to walk, "She just asked me what I'm still doing here."

"Oh, that's it," Serena said firmly, just over Catherine's passive aggressive tactics, "She's officially not invited to book club next summer."

Nate ignored her as he shook his head and frowned after the woman in question, "I don't even know what I was thinking."

Serena shrugged as the came to the top of the garden row and pulled him to a stop as she tried to console him, "No, don't feel bad. Look, it's her fault for getting things started with you in the first place."

"I know, but it was stupid," Nate responded with a sigh as he turned towards her, "I just wish I could make her feel as badly as I feel right now."

Serena stood there for a moment suddenly inspired by a genius idea to help. Catherine was spending so much time appearing to be happy with her husband while alternating between that and hissing at Nate to leave, it was obvious that she was keeping a close eye on him and Serena knew the perfect way to make her react. "You totally can," she said softly as she smiled at Nate as he turned towards her.

Nate smiled at her in confusion as she stepped towards him and held the back of his neck, which was the only heads up he received as Serena took his lips with hers and proceeded to work her magic. Nate responded back to the kiss between friends, making it look as real as possible to their audience around them before the two broke the kiss with a laugh at how ridiculous they were. It reminded Serena about how easy it was to be around Nate and how he was usually all for her crazy ideas for fun and would follow through on them with her. After Blair, Nate had always been her best friend and for a while there, with the whole him being in love with her and that she took his virginity two years ago while he was still seeing Blair, she feared that they would never get back to how it used to be.

As the pair looked around, Serena froze at what must be a mirage. The guy that was standing just to their right was none other than Dan and the look on his face definitely proved that he had been standing there for a while to witness the entire exchange. Serena didn't know what to think or how to react, let alone know why he was even here after a whole summer of silence.

"Of course," Dan said with a shrug as if he shouldn't have been surprised at what he just witnessed and turned to walk away.

**Spotted: Serena and Nate in a massive display of P.D.A...and that's exactly what Dan Humphrey is: Pretty Damn Angry**

At Nate's encouragement, Serena quickly walked after her ex-boyfriend to at least gain some answers as well as to explain what just happened. Of course it _would _happen to her that the second that she decided to let the thought of them go; Dan would decide then to come back. It was just her luck. Serena held her dress up as she made her way after him, calling out, "No, no, no, Dan, Dan, wait."

"No, thank you," Dan responded, not even pausing in his stride.

Serena quickly picked up her pace and continued to try to give her explanation, "No, I-I didn't expect to see you. You- You completely surprised me. I-"

"Well, I have to say you didn't," Dan retorted, still on the move, "Nate, huh? I guess even bad history repeats itself."

Serena was hurt at his insinuation but she kept trying, wanting answers, "No, it- it's not what it looks like."

Dan quickly turned towards her just before he was about to make it inside asking with a tone of judgment, "Let me guess: there's an explanation?"

"Yes. Of course," Serena answered with hesitation, "I was just trying to help him make someone jealous."

"Who?" Dan asked as if it was any of his business.

Serena paused, knowing it wasn't her secret to tell and knew how Dan would react as she reluctant answered, "Well, I-I can't say."

"Why not?" Dan asked obviously getting more frustrated, "Oh, well, I'm sure you can't tell me that either."

Serena just sighed, not understanding why he insists on focusing on the who of the situation, "No, I can't, but that's not the point."

"No, that's _exactly _the point," Dan retorted, "It can never just be a simple answer with you. It can't just be "I kissed Nate." It has to be "I kissed Nate because someone I can't name needed to see it for a reason I can't explain." It's the same drama, different city."

Serena listened as he ranted, not even knowing how to set things right. It was as if he didn't even know her and that all those months together, despite how they ended, he couldn't trust her. That when she said that she couldn't tell him something it was because it wasn't her secret to tell. She learned her lesson the last time she confided in him about Blair's pregnancy scare and her relationship with Chuck. Jenny ended up overhearing and telling Gossip Girl and she almost lost her best friend because she couldn't keep her confidence. As much as she may have loved Dan…he had left and Blair, Nate and even Chuck were still there in the end when things got bad.

Serena turned her attention to Dan as he was confronted before he headed inside by two girls holding drinks and gave him a familiar condescending smile on their faces. "Hi. What are you doing here?" Dan asked, sounding a bit nervous.

"I came with a date. I'm glad I did…," the first girl responded.

"Because since I know her date, the two of us got to meet," the second girl finished.

Serena frowned in confusion as she continued to listen, not having a clue about where this was going or how these two knew Dan. The first girl began to talk again, "Yeah, and then we got to talking, and we figured out that the other night at Jeremiah Harris' reading, when you were making out with me…"

"You were supposed to be with _me,_" the second girl finished as she put her hand on hip.

Serena was surprised at this little development and felt any guilt that she _had _felt at the sight of Dan accusing her and judging her for what she just did to help Nate melt completely away. She simply crossed her arms over her chest and watched the fireworks about to go off. She had to work hard to refrain from laughing out loud as the two girls dumped their drinks all over Dan's jacket with an insincere "Oops" before leaving him there.

Serena cleared her throat as he slowly turned towards her. She waved her hand up to stop him from speaking as she closed her eyes with a smile, "No, wait. No, no, let me guess: You can explain?"

The two shared a look, Dan of complete embarrassment and Serena with a slight look of satisfaction before she motioned him inside to help clean him up. It turned out that he was wearing her grandfather's jacket and Serena, more than anyone, knew that her grandmother didn't keep things that belonged to her late husband just lying around.

**xoxo**

After watching Serena and Dan head inside to clean him up, Nate lost sight of Catherine. But by this time it was a moot point, he had already resigned to himself that it was over and by this point he just wanted to go back to his family home and get drunk and wallow alone. With a plan made, he headed inside to wait for Serena to be finished with Dan so he could say his goodbyes. He figured it was the least he could do since he was now the current source of her drama. To be honest, he didn't really understand why Dan was so quick to jump to conclusions about him and Serena, especially after having dated her for all of last year, granted when he first met Dan he_ was_ sort of pursuing Serena, but Nate had moved well past that.

Nate sighed and just leaned on a nearby wall as he waited. It didn't matter anyway; he thought Dan was okay and seemed to have brought out the best in Serena last year and she seemed to be genuinely happy during their time together. He figured there was quite a bit of unresolved issues between them with the way they broke up and the way Serena had been spending her summer decompressing over it, Nate hoped that she was about to get some closer and be the happy person that she had always been.

It was amazing how much can change in a year. This time last year, Nate was dating Blair while harboring a secret about him losing his virginity to Serena the previous year. Looking back he could admit that he didn't treat Blair the way she deserved as his girlfriend of many years and was even happy for her and Chuck now. When he first found out about them he was a dick, and he was man enough to admit it. It just blew his mind that Chuck of all people was genuinely in a relationship and with Blair Waldorf nonetheless! In the beginning he kind of hoped that it was just a brief affair and that the pair wouldn't last, but as he actually watched the two interact and saw how happy both of them made each other, he realized that they were a better fit than even he originally thought.

He could even laugh now at the memory of Blair scolding and yelling at him when that Gossip girl blast was posted about Blair's pregnancy scare because she was right. He _was_ just looking for a reason to fault Chuck, but his brother needed and it didn't matter. Plus they took it a lot better when they found out that he was seeing Vanessa. Maybe they understood that it was just a phase since it barely lasted a month before the two parted ways.

While he continued to ponder and wait, Nate felt a hand pull on his shoulder from around the corner from where he stood, pulling him into the shadows. He was surprised and hopeful to find that it was Catherine, "Catherine. What are you doing?"

"Why did you kiss Serena?" she asked bluntly.

"You said we were through," Nate responded, knowing that Catherine had no right to be demanding answers from him.

Catherine scoffed in disbelief, "I can't believe that you would try to make me jealous in front of my husband and our friends."

Nate found himself asking without thinking, "Well, did it work?"

Catherine gave him a long look before responding, "Completely."

She quickly pulled him towards her and the pair went back into the new habits they had formed over the summer and quickly moved into a nearby unoccupied room, shutting the door behind them with no one the wiser. Nate didn't know where this was going after this rendezvous. He figured that this would be their last time before the two went their separate ways for good, and he would be okay with that. He couldn't even let himself hope that the affair would continue. After a moment he just decided to stop thinking and enjoy the moment with her and see what would happen when the time came.

**xoxo**

Meanwhile down the hall and in the kitchen, Serena was focusing her whole attention on attempting to salvage her grandfather's jacket while Dan just stood there beside her watching on silently. To say that she was angry at him was putting it lightly. Dan's rant from earlier was still circulating in her head. The things he said about her and then it turned out that he was off doing a lot worse things than she did during their time apart. It just hurt. But, what made her so angry was that he would have continued on and never would have owned up for his faults if he didn't get caught by those two girls in front of her.

"So I…," Dan sighed before continuing on, "I-I went a little overboard."

"A little?" Serena angrily asked, continuing to focus her attention on the jacket in front of her.

"Yeah. It's true, I did," Dan responded nervously as he leaned onto the countertop, "And I hate that I'm even able to say this, but that's, um, that's not the first time something like that has happened."

Serena paused and just looked at him briefly, so many things running through her mind at what he was insinuating. It was very eye-opening how much had changed over a course of a year. That Dan used to be this shy, adorable, rambling guy and now after their break up it turned into this womanizer. Serena didn't say anything out loud but she found it to be a bit of a turn off for her. The last thing she wanted to do was date a version of Chuck Bass.

"I, uh…," Dan started after Serena went back to attempting to scrubbing out the stains on the jacket, "I haven't been able to get you out of my head all summer."

Serena found herself pausing in her ministrations again as she took in his words; that while she was sitting around grieving their lost relationship, he was possibly grieving the loss of them too? "I was hoping when I saw you," Dan continued on, "I would know that we did the right thing, but I-I don't feel that way."

Serena refrained from saying that it wasn't her decision that they broke up, it was his. She was more than willing to forgive and forget about his unfaithfulness with Georgina because she figured she drove him to it and it wasn't as if they loved each other any less and she figured that, with time, they would be able to move past it. But Dan didn't agree and didn't want that. So to hear him say these wonderful things to her now, it felt like her silent wish for the entire summer had come true.

She looked up at him allowing the hope to grow in her heart as he continued to talk, "I don't feel that way at all."

Serena did her best to not show her happiness at his words and looked down at the jacket on the counter, "Um…Can we not talk about this right now? Um, right now I just need to make sure my grandfather's suit from the '70s isn't ruined forever…"

"Yeah," Dan agreed softly beside her.

Serena realized what she said and what she was looking at as she continued on with a frown, "More than it already was by being my grandfather's suit from the '70s."

The two laughed and the tension eased considerably from earlier. "I miss that little laugh of yours," Dan spoke softly.

Serena couldn't help but feel her smile grow at his words as she looked at him. He was saying all the right things and it was like a dream to her. A dream she wanted to be real. "Shh, just…shh," she laughed softly.

Okay," Dan said softly as he held her hand in his. They just looked at each other and did what they'd both been dreaming of for the bulk of their summer apart and just kissed. And it was like they were never apart. It was everything right in Serena's world and she couldn't stop smiling after they broke apart. Dan sighed as he smiled back before saying, "Let's get out of here. You wanna get out of here?"

Serena beamed happily as she nodded, laughing, "Yes. I just have to say good-bye to, um, a few dozen people first." She explained as slowly headed out to the party, not letting go of his hand as she hoped that he was okay with waiting. "Um, do you want to-,"

"Yeah, I'll meet you at the beach," Dan offered, "I'll wait there."

"Okay," Serena responded as she turned away and headed out to say her good-byes in a daze. She was on cloud nine as she realized that she and Dan were really going to get back together. It would be like the summer never happened and they could continue on as they were before their split only better than ever.

**xoxo**

Outside, Chuck and Blair were busy people watching on the sidelines with glasses in hand. As much as Blair loved to be the center of attention, she understood the merits of being on the sidelines watching the masses mingle. How else was one supposed to acquire secrets outside of getting people drunk in order for them to spill? Fortunately for her, Chuck was the best partner in people watching. Very few things got pass Blair Waldorf, but nothing got pass Chuck Bass, and if it did, it didn't last for long.

Blair sighed softly as she shook her head, "I can't believe Elise had the nerve to wear _that. _It's like she learned nothing over the summer."

Chuck looked in the direction Blair was indicating and silently agreed before adding his own two cents, "Maybe she was too busy frolicking with her sister's boyfriend to have time to develop taste."

Blair gasped in shock and delight as she turned towards Chuck, "No."

"Yes," Chuck responded with a smirk as he continued on, "But unbeknownst to the either of them, he's very much keeping it in the family with their mother."

"Ew," Blair responded with a look of disgust before filing the bit of information away for later use as Chuck nodded.

"There's something we need to discuss," Chuck said before he took a sip from his signature glass of scotch.

"Oh?" Blair asked, not taking her eyes off of the crowd in front of her, but weary of the topic of the conversation.

"I'm sure you caught the sight of a certain Humphrey coming in with Celia?" Chuck asked, clarifying that he wasn't referring to the younger Humphrey currently schmoozing with the upper crust of the fashion industry with the thanks of Eric.

Blair pressed her lips together before responding, "I did. Imagine my surprise that Celia Rhodes of all people was secretly shipping for Dan and Serena's reconciliation, especially after that whole mess with Cotillion."

Chuck released a laugh as he nodded in agreement, "I wouldn't be surprised if Humphrey found himself back into the fold by the end of the day, but I would be if they manage beyond a month, if that long."

"Really? And why, may I ask, do you think it's going to be so short lived?" Blair asked, intrigued.

"With Serena, it runs with the whole finally getting what you've craved after so long only to realize it wasn't as great as you envisioned it to be," Chuck explained, "They'll reunite without talking about the source of their break up and that in turn will make them break up."

Blair nodded in agreement at Chuck's prediction before adding in her own, "But, knowing Serena as well as we do, she's a person of habit. She has a tendency to make the same error over and over. So what _we _need to do, as people who love her and want her happy, is when she makes the realization that they're not as good a fit now as they may have been in the past is to find a way to cement that decision."

Chuck pursed his lips as he thought on her suggestion, "And when that time comes, we'll be ready."

Blair gave her boyfriend a smirk, knowing that he was already forming together a clean scheme to help their friend when the time came. Unfortunately the couple were interrupted by James, "Blair, can I talk to you briefly, alone?"

Blair sighed before glancing over at her boyfriend just as his cell phone started to ring; he nodded as he saw who was calling and excused himself from the pair to take the call as Blair turned towards James, "Yes?"

"I wanted to say that you were right and that I am sorry," James began, "With our talk earlier, I heard you…I guess I just wasn't really hearing what you were saying and all I could think was that you deserved better than Chuck without even taking the time to get to know him. I hope that you accept my apology."

Blair sighed softly before she spoke, "I'll accept your apology if you'll accept mine. You were right too. I used you to get through the summer. I didn't need you to be interesting so I didn't really listen when you talked."

At the sight of James' smile of acceptance, Blair smiled back. She was a schemer, but she made it a point to never be a liar and at least her and James were moving forward as genuine friends.

Meanwhile, not too far away, Chuck was answering his phone as he watched his girlfriend and "James" from a distance, "Just in time. What's the dirt on non-James Schiller?" The answer was something that Chuck had never expected. It took a lot to surprise him and this definitely went up there as a surprise. After he hung up the phone he looked in the direction of his girlfriend and felt that familiar feeling of fear; the genuine fear of losing her to someone else that was everything that she had dreamed of for her future.

He thought the fear was well and truly gone when Nate gave his blessings and Blair had made her promise to him at Cotillion last year. But it seemed that it was there all along, waiting for something to reawaken it. He continued to look over at his girlfriend as he realized that "James" was playing his identity card at that very moment. It was the reason why he wanted to talk to Blair alone and all Chuck could do was have faith and wait for Blair to come back to him still wanting only him, Chuck Bass.

"I'm afraid there's something else that I need to tell you," James said softly.

Blair frowned in confusion, "What?"

"Um, it's what I was trying to tell you earlier before I said those horrible things to you," James explained carefully to the point that Blair began to grow a bit weary, "I haven't been completely honest with you."

At his pause, Blair was seriously losing her patience as she demanded, "Okay, spill it."

"I don't go to Georgetown or Princeton," he explained as he gently took her hand in his, "or any school for that matter. I'm afraid I slipped up on that detail."

Now Blair was really getting scared; who is this person that she brought into her world and into her life? It was when James started to speak again with a British accent that Blair was finally able to get _some_ kind of answers, "My name…is Marcus Beaton. I'm British…and a Lord."

"What?" Blair asked in complete surprise, not expecting this at all as she tried to wrap her mind around this big revelation. How was it that out of all the guys that could have approached her that day a month ago, she would attract an actual Lord? "Well, why didn't you tell me before?" Blair asked the most obvious of questions.

"Well, most women I meet only like me for my title," Marcus explained, "I vowed the next time to pretend to be a common American and see what happened."

Blair raised her brows in surprise at his explanation, still not sure what to say or how to respond as he continued on, "But after a couple of days with you, I was afraid if I told you the truth, you'd hate me for lying in the first place."

"No, not quite, my Lord," Blair responded with a smile. This could definitely work for her; imagine the circles he was a part of back in England, not to mention the fact that he was royalty. Blair always prided herself on having good foreign relations and to have a Lord as a dear friend would definitely up her status amongst the masses. But first she had to get them on the same page if they had any hopes of having a genuine friendship, "Um, the title is great and all, but what I'd like more than anything is a little honesty for a change…from both of us."

Marcus nodded before taking her hand in his, "When you told me I was boring before?" Blair nodded, feeling a bit embarrassed at her blunt words as he continued, "No one ever tells me things like that. I liked it." Blair released a brief laugh as he continued on, "How about we, you, me and Chuck, go for some dinner and get to know each other genuinely. A clean slate if you will?"

Blair felt her smile grow at the mention of Chuck and the fact that Ja-Marcus appeared to be genuine in them all starting over as friends, she couldn't find a reason to turn him down, "I think that sounds like a lovely idea."

Marcus smiled with pleasure, "Great! I'll go get my car and I'll meet you both out front?"

Blair nodded and waved as he walked off before she turned to go find Chuck to tell him of the new plans for the remainder of their evening. Luckily it didn't take her long to find him, but when she did he didn't look too happy. "Chuck?"

Chuck gently took her hand in his, "I assume that "James" has revealed his big secret from the look on your face?"

"He did and I'm sure you've had Mike tell you. Can you believe that he's a Lord?" Blair asked in excitement.

"Honestly? I'm not surprised that you attracted one; it shows that he has good taste," Chuck responded.

"He does, doesn't he?" She asked teasingly, "He has offered to take both of us to dinner so we can get to genuinely get to know him and begin this friendship again."

Chuck pressed his lips together, not surprised on the offer, "Why don't you go ahead and go to dinner? I think I've had my fill of playing nice with others."

Blair frowned as they reached the front entrance, pulling him towards her, "Chuck what's wrong?"

Chuck sighed softly, deciding to just be honest like he promised all those months ago when they told everyone that they were a couple, "Look, I know that you've always had this fantasy growing up of your ideal husband, and, before it was Nate, it was always a prince or someone with a title. And here is this guy that seems to be everything that you want…"

"So, what? Are you saying I should be with him rather than you?" Blair asked, seeing where he was going with this speech.

"I'm saying that I made the wrong decision before at Cotillion not trusting you to choose me over your previous dream of your future, and I don't want to make that same mistake again now," Chuck explained as he took a step closer to her, "I worried throughout our summer together and I admit…I was scared."

"Scared? Scared of what?" Blair asked.

"I was, and still am, scared that if we spent the whole summer together, just us…you'd see…me," Chuck spoke softly, wanting to stop, but knowing that he needed to finish what he was saying, "And I was never more relieved than the moment that you walked through my suite door to accompany me to the airport because what I fear even more was that I may not have shown up."

Blair pressed her lips together as she listened to his words before she responded, "Well. We did it. We survived the entire summer and I'm still here with you."

Chuck nodded softly before he pulled Blair even closer, resting his forehead against hers as he whispered, "Please don't leave with him. Stay with me tonight."

Blair sighed as she let her eyes drift close briefly before she opened them, her decision already made as she asked, "Why? Give me a reason, and "I'm Chuck Bass" doesn't count."

"Because I don't want you to," Chuck responded softly.

Blair shook her head gently, "Not good enough."

"What else is there that you need from me?" Chuck asked, willing to do or say anything to keep her with him. Maybe if she chose him tonight, he can relax and have hope that she'll continue to choose him in the future.

Blair looked him in the eye as if he should know the answer to make her stay, "The true reason, I should stay right where I am and not get in the car with anyone else. Three words. Eight letters. Say it, and I'm yours."

Chuck felt a smile grow on his face at her worlds and couldn't help the shy look that was very un-Chuck-like come over his face as he looked down at her hands before looking back into her brown eyes, "I love you."

Blair returned his smile as she lifted her arms and wrapped them around his neck as she whispered, "Thank you. That's all I needed to hear. I love you, Chuck Bass. All of the dreams and fantasies that I've had in the past are just that, childish fantasies. I may have loved Nate, but I've never felt the way that I feel about you before. You are everything that I could hope for in an equal partner."

Chuck sighed in relief and ran his nose along with hers before he kissed her lips slowly, feeling the butterflies from long before run ramped inside of him. She was the only one who understood him, just like he was the only one that understood her. And knowing her, he knew that being upfront with his insecurities in regards to them would go a long way in keeping her rather than silently brooding and eventually losing her because he lashed out at her.

Blair slowly broke the kiss, happy with the new, new plan of the evening of reconnecting with Chuck just as Marcus drove up in his car to pick them up. Blair turned towards him with a smile, "Marcus, unfortunately we're going to have to reschedule on that dinner. Chuck reminded me that we already have plans for the night."

Marcus nodded graciously in understanding, "Of course. We'll definitely do it later on in the week."

"Definitely," Blair agreed just as Arthur drove up with perfect timing with Chuck's limo.

Chuck smirked at Arthur's timing and made a mental note to give his faithful driver a little end of summer bonus in his check as he escorted Blair over to the car after she said her good-byes to the "Lord". After helping her get into the car, Chuck glanced over at Marcus and paused briefly at the look of calculation on his face before he climbed in after Blair. The look alone proved to Chuck that Marcus was far from finished with his pursuit of Blair and Chuck was more than up for the fight to keep what was his. He wasn't Nate Archibald who didn't know what he had until he lost it, and Chuck Bass was not one to lose what is most important to him to some pretentious Lord. If it was a war Marcus wanted, it was going to be a war that he was going to lose.

**xoxo**

The party was winding down and people were saying their good-byes to all their society friends for the season. If Nate were to talk to his mother she would have deemed the party a great success if she were here, but Anne Archibald hadn't been to any society gatherings in months since Howard fled the country. Nate didn't know why his parents came to mind. Maybe it was because this party and the people in it were what made up the world that the couple used to try so hard to be a part of. That it would be in this setting that Nate would see them put on the show of being happy; so much like Catherine's façade from earlier stirred something inside of him at the sight.

This world he lived in was full of people pretending. Pretending to be something they weren't, pretending to be some_one _they weren't. But at the end of the day the people would go home with their masks fully in place when they left to face their reality when their drivers would shut the doors to their cars. Nate would admit that he would pretend too. He did it while he was with Blair and he did it even now to put on the façade that despite the things going on with his family that he was fine, but only a select few know what was really going on.

To live in this life you have to develop a thick skin to survive. Some, like Blair and Chuck, are able to do it with grace and ease; while others, like himself and Serena, stumble at the most important moments when they needed to be strong. Nate guessed that's why the foursome was always so close. Nate and Serena reminded Chuck and Blair that it wasn't necessarily a weakness to be kind to others, and Chuck and Blair reminded them that people can't always be trusted to do what was right when it counted and were willing to be strong _for _them when they faltered. Nate realized how grateful he was to them over the summer for this trait. Even though they were all off doing their own things, Nate had no doubt that if he truly needed them they would drop it all to help, just like they all did with Serena just before Lily's wedding.

Nate was interrupted from his musings as Catherine walked by, dropping a napkin in front of him with a sly smile. Nate couldn't help but to return the smile as he watched her go before he picked up the napkin and read the message

_**The Merai Hotel**_

_**Friday noon**_

Nate chuckled to himself, more than up for what this path that he was on would take him. Whether it was trouble or not he knew that he could count on those he called his family, his _real _family, to be there to get him out of trouble. And, probably for the first time in a while, he felt safe with that knowledge in mind.

Meanwhile, on the beach, Serena was having similar thoughts to the way her world worked. She had sent a text to Blair about her and Dan to which Blair immediately called back and inquired about if Serena was sure that this was the right choice for her. After Serena said it was and how much she missed Dan this summer, Blair, very uncharacteristically, backed off and said she'd be supportive, well as supportive as Blair Waldorf could be about Serena dating someone from Brooklyn who had hurt her best friend. Serena couldn't help but smile at her brunette counterpart; Blair was nothing if not loyal to those she claimed as her friends. Despite their occasional butting of heads, the pair were sisters for life and at the end of the day they want nothing but for the other to be happy.

As Serena saw the bonfire in the distance and the boy that had stolen her heart a little under a year ago sitting there waiting for her as he flipped through his notebook, she paused for a moment and just observed. She may not have mentioned it to Blair on the phone but Blair asking if this was what she really wanted made Serena hesitate in her answer. The thoughts that were swimming through her head after Dan was confronted with those two girls as well as the thought of her maybe being able to survive beyond the painful break up she experienced while she was trying her best to cheer up Nate came to the forefront of her mind and made her question on if this was the best choice for her.

Serena was also reminded of the reason _why _the couple broke up in the first place. When Dan mentioned that it was a joint decision for them to break up she recalled how her initial response was that it was more _his _decision than hers. That _she _was the one that was willing to try and move forward together despite him cheating on her with Georgina and her not being as completely honest as she could have been about her past. Through all of those hurdles, at the time, Serena knew that she still wanted to be with him, but Dan didn't. Dan was the one that decided that she, or rather _they_, weren't worth it

It was then that Dan noticed her presence and smiled at her softly the same way that he used to when they were happily dating. It made Serena want even more to forget about all of their problems for now and just go back to the good part about them. So that's exactly what Serena Van Der Woodsen did. She just enjoyed the moment of being back with the guy she loved and who loved her back as she walked towards his side by the fire. They would deal with all the rest later, but for tonight they were together, the same wish that Serena had made so many times for the past three months.

As he pulled her closer to him, the fireworks display from the party started going off in the distance, capturing their attention completely. The night was truly perfect and Serena felt as if she were dreaming as she rested her head on his chest, never wanting this moment to end.

**They say that summer love is fleeting, but sometimes what starts as a fling can lead to the real thing. A simple trip to the beach could be all it takes to clear our heads and open our hearts and write a new ending to an old story.**

**There are those who got burned by the heat. They just want to forget and start over…**

**While there are others who want each moment to last forever.**

**But everyone can agree on one thing: Tans fade, highlights go dark, and we all get sick of sand in our shoes.**

**But the end of summer is the beginning of a new season, so we find ourselves looking to the future.**

**You ain't seen nothing yet.**

**xoxo,**

**Gossip Girl**

**A/N: First off I have to say thank you to all of my returning and new readers! I'm so happy with all the feedback for the first chapter. I was having a hard time finding my groove to get back into writing and your positive feedback has encouraged and motivated me to keep going on with this story. **

**Now I know that I missed my self-appointed deadline to post this chapter by like a week, but I hope, with 12k words and about 23 pages according to Microsoft word, that I made it worth the wait along with my most sincere apologies. I have begun to start working and my shows on tv are starting to come back on and Big Brother just finished it's probably worst season ever! Plus, I just had such a hard time with this chapter and getting the mind frame right to write about Nate, the show didn't give me much inspiration for him and I'm sad to say that he doesn't get much by way of plotlines in the show and I hope to change that with my story. **

**Second: What did you think of the white party? Did you love it or did you hate it? As you can see I've been keeping it close to canon, but don't worry I do plan on going off of its course as the story progresses. Do you think Chuck should still be worried about James/Marcus? And how about Serena and Dan? Any thoughts on Serena's pov? I'd love to hear it all!**

**I hope to post the next chapter in a couple weeks with more revelations and fun to be had!**

**Lots of love to you all!**

**-Plei4fun**


	3. It's Good to be Home

**Chapter 3: It's good to be home**

**As summer comes to an end, I'd like to share a few of the things I've learned about fun in the sun. Gossip Girl's guide to summer Tip number one: Don't fall asleep on the job. The best hookups are free of morning breath and awkward conversation.**

**The only thing harder than making up is waking up.**

Serena slowly opened her eyes, reluctant to wake up to another day of heartache. She wasn't quite ready to get up and face the day although she noticed that the pain in her heart had begun to hurt a little less just like the previous days before; this gave her hope that she'd be able to let go. As she took in her surroundings the events of the previous day flashed through her mind's eye, she remembered going to the White Party with Nate and trying to get him through the ordeal with Catherine, his married ex. She remembered attempting to make said ex jealous by making out with Nate in front of everyone and how she felt at ease and peace with Nate after their whole year worth of drama and thinking that maybe she _could _move forward from Dan. That thought was shot to hell when just after the kiss was over, there was the boy that haunted her thoughts and heart throughout the summer.

She remembered their conversation and his hurtful words of judgment before he was called out by those two girls which resulted in him being dunked with colorful cocktails that stained Serena's grandfather's white jacket. While Serena attempted to salvage the jacket, Dan decided that he wanted to explain why he came to the Hamptons. He came in the hopes of finding closure only to find that he missed her as much as she missed him.

After making plans to meet up later at the beach, Serena went off to say goodbye to everyone, her mind swirling to the point that she was almost dizzy. She remembered the feeling of complete happiness, but she also remembered her reservations. Last night she decided to worry about those later and just enjoy the night with the guy that she loved so much before he broke her heart, figuring that they would talk the next day so they could start over. And here it was the next day, and all of the reservations that Serena had the previous night had come flooding back with a vengeance. She also felt regret with what she and Dan did out on this beach. It was wonderful and it brought back great memories, but it was the fact that they did that without talking about the hard stuff first. Now she was left wondering what was going on with them and where were they going.

Serena slowly lifted her head up at her ex-boyfriend as he slept, still holding her to him gently just like he used to so many times before. If she let herself, Serena knew that she could just pretend that everything was fine and they could go on their merry way just as before, but after watching her mother go through similar situations with her past husbands she knew that was just a band aid for the situation and she wanted her and Dan to be more than that.

Serena slowly sat up, wrapping herself up in the stained jacket from last night as the thoughts continued to swarm her head, not knowing what to do as Dan sat up beside her with a yawned, "Hey."

"Hi," Serena replied with a soft smile as he wrapped his arms around her as he always used to and kissed her lips gently.

Before she could get caught up in the moment, Serena turned away and decided that maybe it was best for her to get home and think about this by herself. Obviously being near Dan wasn't going to help her think this decision through. As she began to put on the jacket and gather her things, Dan looked at her in confusion, "What?"

"I'm sorry," Serena stated as she pulled her hair out from the jacket, "I-I'm just a little, um…"

She covered her face and shook her head to clear her thoughts as Dan attempted to finish her sentence, "Overwhelmed?"

"Confused," Serena corrected with a sigh before looking over at Dan, "Last night was…"

"It was amazing," Dan answered as he took Serena's chin and pulled her towards him for another kiss.

Serena let him, but forced herself to turn away after one kiss as she added with a laugh, "And confusing."

"Okay. Now I'm a little confused," Dan said as he looked down the beach before turning his attention to Serena.

"Well, it was so romantic what you did," Serena began to try to explain her feelings as she pushed a strand of hair out of her face, "showing up here, and it feels so right to be together."

"But you're having second thoughts," Dan responded.

Serena turned away, needing to not look at him as she tried to process what it was that she wanted to say, "I just think that we should think…before we get back together, right?"

As she turned back towards Dan for confirmation even though she knew in her heart that her reservations would not let her be happy with Dan for long if she kept ignoring them rather than addressing them. "Yeah, I mean, I thought," Dan began before sighing before moving his hand up behind Serena's neck as he finished his thought, "I thought this meant we _were _back together."

Serena felt herself slipping back into the moment and kissed him back eagerly, loving the feel of his lips on hers as he held her close. As Dan slowly started leading them back onto the blanket, Serena began to snap back out of her haze of lust and started to respond in the negative as she broke the kiss, "Mnh-mnh. Mnh-mnh. Mnh-mnh."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Dan responded as he sat up again beside her.

"No, you're not," Serena retorted with a smile as she looked over at him, holding the jacket tight around her, becoming very much aware that she was only wearing her bra underneath.

"No, I'm not at all," Dan agreed with a laugh.

Serena joined in before she reassured him, "And neither am I, and I want to keep it that way. But this is a big decision, and- and we did break up for a reason…many reasons." Serena nodded to herself in confirmation of her words as she continued on to reassure Dan that she hadn't made her decision _yet_, "But this was never our problem."

Dan smiled at her as the pair rested their forehead against each other's before they began to kiss again, this time with a lot more control as Serena pulled away with a soft, "Okay." She decided on a plan and began to speak, "I will see you back in the city…" Unable to resist, Serena began pressing kisses along his neck and face as she spoke, "mmm," kiss, "Fully clothed.." kiss, "with lots of people around," kiss, "Okay?"

Dan agreed with a nod as Serena stood up from her spot on the blanket, gathering her dress from the previous night and began to head back to her family's house. Before going too far, she quickly turned back, not knowing what else to say she simply said firmly, "We'll talk."

Dan nodded as he began to button up his shirt, "Yeah, about our problems."

Serena smiled before she continued her way up the path, only glancing back one more time before continuing on her way home. She hoped that they were able to work everything out because the morning reminded her of how much she missed waking up in his arms and how much she missed the good parts about their relationship. Hopefully they could work out the bad parts and be able to move forward and leave them in the past.

**xoxo**

Meanwhile, while Serena was sneaking into the Van Der Bass Hampton home, Blair was sound asleep while Chuck was busy smirking down at his deviously sexy girlfriend. He wasn't lying when he said that she was perfect at the White Party last night. Even during her most controlling moments, Chuck couldn't help but be mesmerized by her and her love and loyalty for those she claims as friends was one of her greatest characteristics. A characteristic that Chuck, himself, shared. It was part of the reason why he was weary when Humphrey joined their circle briefly last year and it was, again, the reason why he was still weary of Marcus.

But he trusted Blair and he knew that despite the starting over that she agreed to with Marcus, she would be weary of the Lord for a while. Blair hated secrets and liars. And Marcus proved that he was both with the revelation the previous night and, whether he knew it or not, he was in the red in regards to being Blair Waldorf's confidant. The knowledge alone allowed Chuck the luxury of being able to relax in regards to Marcus, for now.

Mentally clearing his head, deciding that he could be spending this precious, undisturbed time doing better things, Chuck smirked as he slowly and deliberately kissed up Blair's arm. At the sight of Blair's stirrings, Chuck paused before continuing up to his own personal kryptonite, the nape of Blair's neck. He slowly moved her hair to the side to clear the way for him to kiss and suck on his favorite spot on his girlfriend.

"What are you doing, Bass?" Blair asked softly as she opened her eyes, not moving for her spot.

"You know exactly what I'm doing, Waldorf," Chuck responded as he pulled away, allowing Blair to roll over to face him.

"I feel like we just went to sleep," Blair said as she began to slowly trace a pattern on Chuck's chest.

"Well, since we technically called it a night two hours ago, we did," Chuck responded with a smirk before lifting her hand in his as he pulled her towards him, going back to work on her neck.

Blair couldn't help but release a laugh as she threaded her hands through his hair, "You are definitely proving your reputation as insatiable, Chuck Bass."

Chuck grinned as he lifted his head up as he teased, "You're only just now figuring that out?"

Blair smiled as she narrowed her eyes at him before she pulled him towards her and took his lips with her own hungrily. Chuck eagerly returned her kiss, pressing his body against hers as he ran his hand down her leg before hitching it over his hip, resulting in Blair releasing a soft moan of pleasure. The hot make-out session was interrupted by a ringing phone. Chuck and Blair immediately chose to ignore it and continue on with their morning fun in bed together. The summer was almost over and soon Blair would be busy with school, her social calendar, and her duties as Queen and Chuck would be busy with Victrola along with school and the social scene so the couple would a significantly less amount of time alone together in comparison to this past summer.

The thought alone upped the passion between the two and it wasn't until more than an hour later that they came up for air. Blair rested her head on Chuck's chest happily, feeling as if she was at peace for the first time since Chuck had left France the previous month ago. As they both relaxed, Blair realized that it was her phone that went off earlier and propped her head onto Chuck's chest as she asked, "Grab my phone for me? See who called earlier."

Chuck carefully moved over to the night stand and picked up her phone, pausing as he saw James' name as the missed caller. "It seems that your new _friend _had an early rising today," Chuck said lightly as he handed Blair her phone.

Blair sighed as she looked at her phone and saw James' name before she quickly changed it to Marcus, "I guess he wanted to set up that dinner sooner rather than later…"

Chuck duct his head down and placed a soft kiss on Blair's temple as he laced one of his hands with hers, "What's the plan according to our esteemed Lord?"

Blair laughed softly as she lifted her phone to her ear, not really wanting to leave this bed at all today, as she listened to Marcus's message before deleting it. "He wanted to meet up for breakfast," Blair replied before she checked the time seeing that it was well past that time now, "And it appears we've missed it."

The pair smiled at one another as Chuck responded in a whisper, "I fear that I was much too busy eating something far more decadent."

"And after you were finished, I believe, so was I," Blair retorted with a smirk, "But since I find that I'm hungry for something else, what shall we do?"

Chuck sighed before reluctantly responding with, "Why don't you call the Lord and make lunch plans for all of us."

"Really?" Blair asked a bit surprised and more than a little bit suspicious.

"Yes, really, and then afterwards we continue on with our lust filled day of solitude in this bed," Chuck suggested, figuring that showing to be accommodating and open to being "friendly" with the Lord will help him in the long run. Despite what Marcus liked to say, he was _not _going to be around for much longer if Chuck had anything to do with it.

"Okay," Blair replied with a smile, "I'll go call him now to set it up while you go shower."

"Only if you join me," Chuck immediately responded with a smirk, resulting in Blair smiling and shaking her head lightly at her boyfriend as she lifted her phone up to her ear to make her call.

A couple of hours later, Chuck, Blair, and Marcus were having lunch and everyone appeared to be behaving themselves accordingly. Marcus was regaling about the social scene in England and what he did in his spare time there while Blair was listening with rapt attention, storing away a few ideas for future social gatherings for the upcoming year, and Chuck was mentally rolling his eyes at the sound of such boring drivel. He was unable to believe that Marcus was able to keep Blair's attention while he was portraying a pauper of some sorts for a month; especially when now that he actually had something interesting to say, could still make it sound dull.

It was no wonder the guy could only get a girl interested in him because of his title, it was the _only _thing that he had going for him! Chuck glanced over at Blair as she laughed in delight at Marcus's words about a party he attended just before he came to France. After spending actual time with the guy, Chuck began to feel a bit more relaxed in regards to Marcus's feelings. Blair was more interested in everything around the Lord rather than the Lord himself. Almost as if she heard his thoughts, Blair artfully turned the conversation over to Marcus's plans, "So, what's next?"

"I believe dessert," Marcus replied with a smile.

Blair laughed lightly as she responded, "No. I mean, since you don't go to Princeton or Georgetown, I assume you're not headed back to college. So where are you headed? Are you staying here?"

Chuck smirked lightly as he threaded his fingers through Blair's as he listened to the answer he wanted to know as well. "Would it be too forward of me to say that I'd like to stay here and spend more time with my new friends?"

Blair gave a smile as she responded, "I'd be honored milord."

It was a smile that Chuck would have recognized from anywhere. It was the smile of triumph after a particular delicious takedown or when a pawn moved in the direction she wanted it to go without her even having to ask it to. Yes. Blair Waldorf had plans for the Lord; whether it was good or bad, it remained to be seen, but Chuck felt himself smile too as he placed a light kiss upon Blair's shoulder, his smile growing more devious at the feel of a shiver running up Blair's back in response. Deciding to be patient and not push Blair on revealing her plans and have her fun, Chuck was content with the knowledge.

Marcus laughed at Blair's response as he chided lightly, "Blair, you don't have to call me that. In fact, you shouldn't-"

"I know. Don't worry," Blair responded reassuringly as she took a sip from her glass before continuing, "As you've probably guessed, we have to head back to the city."

"Senior year awaits," Chuck said with a smirk, taking a sip from his own glass as he let his Queen hold Marcus's attention.

"Autumn in New York…I'm sure that I could find some way to entertain myself," Marcus responded, "I wasn't lying when I said I had a little bit of family business in the city. Not to mention that they would be glad that I'm staying in one place for a while."

"Oh, your family. I'd love to meet the Duke and Duchess," Blair replied with an eager smile as she gave Chuck's hand a gentle squeeze. She'd been doing that throughout the entire lunch as if to remind him that even though she was talking and interacting with Marcus, her focus was always aware of him sitting beside her.

"Duchess. Right," Marcus responded hesitantly, "Well, we'll see."

Chuck felt his queen freeze briefly at the brush off before she laughed with a light shrug, "Of course."

There goes that possible chance that Marcus could win her over; it was like he was the ultimate amateur. Chuck quietly lifted Blair's hand in his and kissed the back of it gently as a show of silent comfort to which Blair smiled over at him in gratitude. He loved that he knew her so well. As Chuck glanced over at the Lord he could see that Marcus realized his mistake as he forced a smile at both of them. Before Marcus could even attempt to rectify it though, Blair's phone went off to indicate that she had a phone call.

"Oh! Excuse me, I need to take this," Blair excused herself as she stood up to take the phone call outside. As Chuck looked at her, silently asking who it was, Blair leaned towards him and whispered in his ear, "It's Serena," before kissing his cheek and heading outside for some privacy at the sight of Chuck's nod of understanding.

As he watched her go outside to take her call, he smirked as he turned back towards Marcus at the sound of him clearing his throat.

"You know, I've done quite a bit of research on you…Chuck," Marcus began nonchalantly.

Chuck simply smirked back, not worried at all, "Have you now? And what did you find in your search?"

"Little things here and there, but at the end of it: Proof," Marcus stated bluntly as he looked Chuck dead in the eye.

"Proof of what, exactly?" Chuck countered, wondering where the supposed Lord was going with this line of conversation.

"Proof that I was right, that Blair deserves someone far better than the likes of you," Marcus spoke arrogantly, "and I plan to show that to her during my stay in New York."

Chuck moved his lower jaw as he contemplated and decided that since Marcus was being so honest, it was only right for Chuck to lay his own cards on the table, "And I assume you think _you're_ that better someone?" At the sight of Marcus's smile, Chuck smirked as he laid it all out for the stowaway, "I'm aware that in your little social order in England you're pretty high ranked, but what you've failed to realize is that you're in my realm now and I have Blair ruling happily by my side. You may be used to getting what you want…but I'm Chuck Bass and you've yet tohave gone to war with me."

As Marcus simply glared at him, Chuck finished with, "Oh. And when she figures out what you're up to, and I promise you she will all on her own, you won't just have me to deal with. _She _will burn you alive with not even a trace of who you used to be, and I'm going to enjoy watching the flames."

As Chuck took a sip from his glass as he finished off with, "But until then, let's keep things civil. After all, isn't that a trait your people pride themselves on?"

Chuck watched as Marcus forced himself to put on a pleasant smile, "Right."

**xoxo**

While the boys were inside drawing battle lines, Blair was outside on the phone unaware of the war being declared, "Serena, what's up?"

"Honestly? I have no idea," Serena responded sounding happy and worried at the same time.

Blair sighed before responding, "Okay, well let's start with last night. I assume from your lack of text or the fact that you didn't return home last night that you and Humphrey are very much on?"

"Well that is the million dollar question isn't it?" Serena answered with a question.

Blair frowned into the phone as she began to grow impatient, "What are you talking about?"

"Last night with Dan was everything I'd hoped it would be after this whole summer apart but…we didn't actually talk about anything," Serena began to explain her plight.

Not at all surprised, Blair offered an attempt to prove her and Chuck wrong with, "But you guys talked this morning right?"

"…No," Serena responded hesitantly, "I know it was stupid. That we should have talked about our problems before jumping back into things, but I guess I just got caught up in the moment."

"Well you two _are _in a relationship it's not as if you're not going to eventually talk about your issues right?" Blair asked, noticing that Serena never actually answered her about if they were back together.

Serena shook her head, "That's just it. After waking up this morning, I, for some reason, thought it would be a good idea not to rush back to being official yet until we talked. And I put _that _off until we were back in the city."

"And what did he say about your decision?" Blair asked, feeling a bit proud of Serena for not just jumping in without thought even though she _did _end up sleeping with him first.

"He was a bit confused. He, apparently, was all for us getting back together without a thought," Serena sighed into the phone, "I don't know. Do you think I made the right choice?"

"Speaking for myself, yes I do. When Nate and I broke up before my birthday and I began to date Chuck in secret, I admit there were still some questions on if I was moving on too fast. I love Chuck, you know I do, but I _thought _I loved Nate for a very long time before that. It wasn't until Nate asked to escort me to Cotillion that it forced me to think of the reasons why I ended it, what led up to it….and I realized that I did the right thing. That as much as we love each other, we didn't love each other nearly as much as either of us deserved."

Serena was silent for a while, absorbing Blair's words, never realizing how much she thought she put into not going back to Nate. She never voiced it out loud, but Serena worried that Blair didn't want to get back together with Nate because she feared he'd hurt her again. As crazy as it sounded, Serena didn't really come to terms with Chuck and Blair's relationship until just before their trip to Tuscany together, but now, looking back, there was no other people on this earth more right for each other.

"We've never really sat and talked about that before…," Serena said softly into the phone.

"I know," Blair responded just as softly, "I only brought it up now because I want you to know that I understand where you're coming from and I support you."

Serena smiled at her best friend's words, "I'm getting that, and thanks Blair, for everything. But enough about my problems, how are things going with you and Chuck and James?"

Blair frowned in confusion before realizing that Serena is so behind, "It's amazing what can happen in 24 hours. Things are a little iffy with Lord Marcus."

Serena frowned, "Wait. Who's Lord Marcus?"

"James," Blair responded, "Turns out that he was only pretending to be a commoner. It's like "Roman Holiday," only I'm Gregory Peck, and he's Audrey Hepburn, and I'm not interested in him at all romantically."

"Oh, suddenly it's all so clear," Serena laughed as she teased; glad to no longer be focusing on her problems for a moment.

"He's not really a college student. He's a Lord and we're attempting to move forward with honesty and friendship," Blair explained.

"And how does Chuck feel about this?" Serena asked, having an idea for the answer.

"He's being Chuck," Blair said with a shrug, "watching from a distance and playing nice, but secretly plotting out ways to remove a possible threat." Blair couldn't help but smile in affection.

"Oh, is that all?" Serena asked sarcastically, "What exactly is the problem then?"

"You know me. I like to be aware of my new friends' parents, where they come from, what their secrets are. You know, just in case the new friend turns on me I'm adequately prepared to strike back without a thought," Blair explained as if this was perfectly reasonable.

"Yes," Serena responded with a roll of her eyes, "Although I hope you realize that it's not always the best way to _keep _said new friends."

"I've learned from the mistake I made when I allowed that Jenny Humphrey girl into my circle, I won't repeat it," Blair explained without remorse, "My original goal in regards to Marcus was to create a contact, you never know when you might need to have good foreign relations. But it seems that Marcus isn't very keen on making an introduction."

"Well it's not as if you two are dating and you worry that you're involved in some scandalous secret relationship like how you began your current one," Serena responded, unable to refrain from grinning.

"Ha ha," Blair responded not amused, "But your point has been made. Who knows if Marcus is going to be able to survive being my friend anyway? With Chuck plotting, any secret the Lord may have hoped to have kept in the dark will be brought to light soon and I may not want anything to do with him."

"Always thinking positive aren't you Blair?" Serena teased as she saw her destination and someone else that she wasn't planning on seeing for at least a while and her smile slowly disappeared, "Crap."

"What?" Blair asked in concerned, "Serena, what is it?"

"It's nothing," Serena responded, unconvincingly, "I'm heading back to the city and we'll talk then, alright? I have to go."

"Okay," Blair responded before hanging up the phone, feeling as if it was far from nothing that Serena came across. But instead of hounding her best friend for an answer, Blair uncharacteristically decided to let it go for now. Serena needed to make her own decisions just like she did in regards to Nate and all she could do was be there when she was ready to talk to someone about it. Blair sighed before she headed back inside, figuring that the boys had been alone long enough.

**xoxo**

Nate sighed as he finished with his packing to head back to the city with Chuck and Blair. He was supposed to meet them over at the Van Der Bass Hampton home in about an hour so he figured he better head downstairs and say his goodbyes to his mother. It was weird that although the two stayed in the same house this summer, he barely got to see much of her while he allowed himself to get caught up in his affair with Catherine. If she ever showed signs that everything wasn't okay, Nate would have been concerned but looking back his mother never revealed to him that anything was wrong.

Feeling almost excited to be going back home Nate walked down the stairs, dropping his main bag in the entry way and continued to carry his side bag that held a few things to keep him occupied during the trip back before figuring he'd start his search for his mother in the gardens. She'd been spending a lot of time there lately and he could tell that it brought her some form a peace. Nate wasn't naïve to think that she was hundred percent fine after his father fled the country but he knew she was finding ways to work through it. He just wished that she would get back out and do other things that she loved like socializing with her friends, but he understood that his mother didn't have the same type of friends that he had. The kind that stuck by him through the hard times as well as the good and didn't ditch him at the slightest hint of a scandal.

Nate plastered on a happy face as he saw his mother in the distance and made his way down the stairs and around the pool towards her as she looked up at him and stood, adjusting her sun hat with a smile.

"Hey, mom. It's looking really nice out here," Nate complimented as he looked around.

"Thanks," Anne responded as she held some yellow flower that Nate assumed she was going to use later to make an arrangement for the house. "I couldn't sleep, so I got up early." She glanced at his side bag and commented, "Are you going somewhere?"

"Yeah, I'm going to head back into the city, actually," Nate explained as he scratched the back of his neck.

Anne raised her hands offhandedly as she replied lightly, "But there's still a few more days of vacation."

"Yeah, I know," Nate nodded as he shoved his hand into his pocket, "I figured it'd be good to get back in and settled before school starts."

He noticed his mother freeze up a bit before she looked away and grew concerned, "I mean, Louisa's at the house, right? It's- It's not a big deal."

"No," Anne responded softly before she looked up at Nate. At the look of confusion, Anne forced herself to continue, "I haven't wanted to tell you this, but you're going to find out soon enough."

Knowing that he wasn't going to be happy by the end of the conversation, Nate decided to just get it over with, "Find out what?"

"The federal prosecutor has taken your father's leaving town as an admission of guilt. They want to forfeit our assts…for restitution," Anne began to fidget under Nate's look of disbelief.

"What, they want to take our money?" Nate asked, wondering how this could have happened without him knowing about it.

Anne took of her gardening gloves as she continue to explain, "Well, not yet, but they have frozen our accounts. And now they're making an inventory of everything that we own," she sighed before she continued, "I asked your granddad for help."

"What, you told Grandpa?" Nate asked, the entire scenario was so surreal and the fact that his mother had to ask his grandfather for help financially proved how bad the situation really was despite how his mother attempted to sugar coat it. Nate honestly felt hurt that he was the last to know about this and he had a feeling that he was only told this now because he made the decision to go home early.

"Not that it did any good," Anne nodded, "As you can imagine, he's not very happy with my role in your father's departure. For the time being at least, I've been cut off."

"I can't believe you knew all this, and you didn't say anything," Nate yelled, feeling as if, once again, his entire life was ripped out from underneath him.

Anne stepped towards him, "All summer, I kept hoping I could make it go away," she gently lifted her hand and lightly touched Nate's chin in comfort as she continued on, "and maybe I still can, which is why I need you to keep your chin up and trust that your mother's got this handled."

"No, when he left, Dad told me to take care of _you_," Nate explained, still obviously upset with the situation.

Anne nodded with a soft smile, "And you are."

It was then that Nate's phone began to ring as he rolled his eyes and took it out to see who it could possibly be as he heard his mother speak, "Nate, let's not fight about this, please."

At the sight of Catherine's name on the display screen, Nate felt himself grow even more upset. Maybe if he wasn't so caught up with Catherine this summer he would have noticed that not everything was as perfect as he thought it was with his mom. Unfortunately for him, he'll never know for sure and at this point in time it was too late to even contemplate it. Now he had to come up with an idea to figure out how to fix the situation.

As he hit ignore on his phone he found himself sighing again, "Mom, I gotta go. Let's talk about this later, okay?"

Anne said nothing as Nate quickly turned and headed back inside to gather his bag and head over to Chuck's. He knew he was going to be a bit early but hopefully him and Blair wouldn't be opposed to heading out a bit earlier. He needed to know just how bad the situation was at home and in order to do that he had to actually be there. He made a mental decision that he wasn't going to say anything to any of his friends for now. He just wanted to come to terms with it on his own for now.

**Next tip: Take time to smell the flowers.**

**It's true that all good things must come to an end, and August is no exception. They don't call it "Fall" for nothing.**

**xoxo**

Serena couldn't believe that she was in this situation so soon after this morning. While she was on the phone with Blair she was shocked to see Dan at the bus stop waiting for the next Jitney which had been her plan. She assumed he was going to take the train, apparently, that's what he thought _she _would do as well, resulting in her sitting just across the aisle as the Jitney brought them closer and closer to the city, and it couldn't be any more uncomfortable.

Serena did her best to distract herself inside the magazine she brought along for her trip, but she couldn't find it in her to give it her full attention when she kept catching herself glancing towards her left accidently catching Dan's gaze before they quickly looked in the opposite directions. This was ridiculous! Their relationship before wasn't completely about sex, they could talk and interact without it being awkward. It's like Dan said back at the bus stop: They weren't animals.

Taking a deep breath, Serena purposely looked over at Dan. Seeing his eyes closed with his ear buds in, she nudged him gently with her magazine. When that didn't work she simply reached over and yanked one of them out of ear to gain his attention. When she was successful she simply smiled and spoke, "Sorry. Um, I'm done reading my magazine…," she offered it up to him, "And I know that you like…"

"Oh," Dan responded as he took it from her, their hands grazing each other causing a shock to run up Serena's arm in anticipation. Unable to help herself she slowly pulled her hand away, not taking her eyes off of him and_ he_ unable to look away from her.

She quickly realized what she was doing and turned away, shutting her eyes tightly as she finished her thought process on why she offered him the magazine in the first place, "The music reviews, so if you want to read it, you can."

"Thank you," Dan responded softly as he took the magazine from her.

Serena smiled and glanced over her shoulder at him, not letting herself linger too long as she turned towards the window.

A little bit later, Serena decided that she was hungry, which wasn't surprising since she didn't get to eat breakfast this morning before she left, and mentally thanked her forward thinking when she remembered that there was a box of chocolate covered strawberries in her bag for her to enjoy. After taking out the box, she didn't waste any time picking out the biggest one and taking a bite, careful of the juices and the crumbling chocolate. After eating the fruit she began to lick the chocolate off of her fingers, unaware that she was being watched until she glanced over to see Dan staring at her with a dazed and lustful look on his face.

Once again, Bad Serena made an appearance and encouraged him to look as she offered to him lightly, "Want one?"

"Oh, no thanks, I'm good," Dan responded.

Serena nodded and continued on with eating her strawberries, very much aware that she was playing with fire. A half an hour later, Serena started to feel a bit off. The ride had been far from smooth and after eating those strawberries, Serena worried that they were going to find their way back up. She stood up from her seat carefully before slowly making an attempt to get to the back of the bus where the bathroom was. It was then, as if it was a sign, the bus hit a particular nasty bump resulting her falling onto Dan's lap.

Serena gasped as he wrapped his arms around her, keeping her steady. She rested her hands on his shoulders as she looked down into the face of her ex-boyfriend and whispered, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Dan responded as he looked up at her.

Serena just couldn't resist any longer and she didn't want to. Making a decision that she knew she shouldn't before they talked, she stood up from his lap, taking his hand in hers and leading to the back of the bus quickly. He willingly followed after her as Serena pulled him into the bathroom with her unable to help the excitement she felt at what they were about to do. As the door closed behind them, she smiled and kissed him. Despite the negatives associated with his escapades over the summer, the fact that Dan Humphrey was all for a quickie in the back of the Jitney with her, was definitely a plus.

**xoxo**

Meanwhile Blair, Chuck, and Nate were in the back of a limo heading back to the city themselves. Blair shook her head softly to herself as she spoke out loud. "I can't believe that you invited him to play squash with you at your father's club. I swear Chuck if you mess this up for me, I _will _squash you!"

Chuck was unable to hold back his laugh as he attempted to reassure her of his good intentions, "Relax Waldorf. As I'm sure you're aware, the Lord is short on friends on this side of the pond. Besides there are some things that guys will only talk about with other guys. Think of it as me doing a bit of recon for you. Besides you'll be a bit busy, supposedly preparing for a party that you've claimed to throw at the end of every summer…"

Blair rolled her eyes, not believing his words for a second before responding, "Well I figured if he wasn't going to introduce me to the Duchess willingly, I could set the stage for an impromptu introduction. Which reminds me…" Blair quickly as took out her phone and sent out a text message to her faithful Dorota to set the party plans in motion so it would have at least been started to be planned by the time she made it back. Considering that to be as done as she could under the circumstances, she turned towards Nate, "So Archibald, how was your summer?"

Nate sighed and looked over at his ex-girlfriend and shrugged, "It was a nice break away from the prying eyes of our world for a while."

Blair nodded in understanding remember when her own father went through his scandal the previous year, "Be grateful for small favors; not everyone is fortunate enough to have that luxury."

Nate gave her a half smile in agreement as Chuck refilled Blair's glass of champagne, "I have to admit that I've missed you Nathaniel, but it seems that the time out of the spotlight has done you good."

"Thanks, but to be honest…at this point, I don't really want to talk about me and my situation," Nate explained. The couple nodded in understanding, both unaware of how the situation has gotten even worse than anyone in that car could comprehend and Nate wasn't prepared to share that with them just yet. "What I want to talk about his this whole war between Chuck and this Lord."

Blair smiled and shook her head to herself as Chuck responded, "It's far from a war, at this point, he hasn't even given his opening move other than revealing who he really is. At this point it's just a gathering of Intel; I have no doubt that he won't be staying on our island for long."

When Nate glanced over at Blair she simply responded, "As long as it doesn't result in jeopardizing my goals, he's free to wreak havoc within reason.

She took a sip from her glass as she glared at her boyfriend. She was very much aware that lines had been drawn during her time outside of the restaurant on the phone with Serena; after the mess with the attempted dethroning last year, Blair and Chuck had agreed and kept up the promise of no secrets between them. Be it good or bad. In the end was better for them and worse for their enemies to have secrets used against them to cause an internal war with the couple.

"No offense," Nate began, gaining the couple's attention once again, "But don't you think you're a little outmatched?"

"At squash?" Chuck asked, purposely playing obtuse, "I've been playing my father since the eighth grade. How good can Marcus be?"

"No, I mean, as a guy," Nate responded, "No offense Blair, but you've always wanted to be a princess, and Chuck's greatest achievement is owning part of a Burlesque Club."

"My supposed dreams of wanting to become a princess went away along with my supposed dreams of being Mrs. Nathaniel Archibald," Blair responded with a smirk, "Besides, why bother being a princess, when I could become Queen in my own right?"

Chuck smirked as he responded, "She already has the experience. Although Nate's right about my lack of accomplishments, I will repeat myself: I have to get to know the guy, and this is my way in. See, no one's that perfect. Once I found out what he's hiding, it'll be easy to take him out when the time is right."

"Oh, you know it's love when you start talking like an assassin," Nate teased. "How are you okay with this?" he asked Blair who was busy fiddling with her phone.

"It's Chuck," she responded before looking up at Nate, "He's going to do what he wants in regards to Marcus, and I've made it very clear that he wasn't allowed to take the kill shot until I say so. Besides it's always a good idea to have _some_ Intel on our side. Marcus has already shown that he has it in him to lie about himself, so what else could he be lying about I don't know. But I know that Chuck will find out and tell me if there's anything worth mentioning."

"I think you're jealous of my new best friend," Chuck chimed in with a smirk, loving how well Blair knew him and the fact that he at least had her blessing to dig into the Lord was definitely a point in his favor.

"Well, I have been hoping someone would tag in for a while now," Nate responded sarcastically as he shook his head at his two friends.

Chuck and Nate laughed together just as Chuck's own phone rang. When Chuck was about to ignore it, he paused at who was calling and decided to answer, figuring that it might be important, "Hello?"

As he listened to the voice on the other end of the phone, he knew that he couldn't talk freely with his current company, "Uh, I can't talk right now. I'll have to call you when I'm home."

As the caller understood, Chuck hung up the phone feeling a wave of worry wash over him. The fact that this particular person called him was big and it could only mean that something was happening that he didn't know about.

"Hey, if you need to work out the details of your takedown, don't let me stop you," Nate responded as Chuck forced a lighthearted smile on his face.

Blair looked over at her boyfriend and saw what Nate didn't. She saw the worry and placed her hand on his arm gently, silently asking if he needed her to do something. Chuck glanced over at her and slightly shook his head, knowing that he'd fill her in when he knew what was going on later as he responded to Nate's inquiry, "You know me well, but it's nothing."

Blair said nothing as she went back to planning her party tonight, knowing that Chuck will talk to her about it when it was time. From the way he was acting she knew it wasn't about Marcus at all and that it _was _serious so she didn't think she had to wait long to hear the details. Until then Blair was perfectly content to let the boys talk and catch up as she focused her attention on her party, just being able to reach over and hold Chuck's hand whenever she wanted was more than enough to soothe her frazzle nerves. She needed this party to be perfect. She needed to make a great impression on the Duchess. The comment she made earlier about being a Queen to Nate was true. During her down time away from Chuck, Blair had been planning out her future. She knew that her plans needed a bit of revamping now that her goals had changed along with the man that she wanted by her side through it all. She wanted to be a powerful person and rule her island effectively. In order for that to happen though, she needed to have good contacts, good favors to call in, as well as good secrets to hold over other's heads, and the introduction with the Duchess was the beginning of setting that plan in motion.

About an hour later, Nate left his friends and headed inside his childhood home, unsure what to expect from the news that his mother dropped on him before he left the Hamptons earlier. What awaited him when he entered the sitting room was not what he expected. He found a group of people he'd never met before with notebooks in their hands taking notes as some guy, Nate assumed he was the leader, was giving out instructions about seeing what they could find upstairs.

"Excuse me," Nate interrupted, making his presence known.

The group froze and turned towards him before dispersing, leaving the head guy there to represent them, "You Nate Archibald?"

"Yeah. Since this is my house, how about I ask the questions?" Nate asked hostilely as he walked further into the room towards the man, dropping his bags by the door.

"Don't worry," the man responded arrogantly as he pulled something out of his jacket pocket, flashing Nate his FBI badge as he continued on, "Your family's lawyer is upstairs, supervising."

"Supervising what, exactly?" Nate explained, even _more _confused than he felt when his mother first told him this morning that their accounts were frozen.

"Us. We've moved into your house, and we're going through every single thing your family owns," the agent explained as he motioned around the room with a slight smile, putting away a file that was in his hands when Nate came in.

"Wow," Nate spoke as he realized something from that slight smirk on the agent's face, "You're actually enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Look, no one wants to hold a yard sale. We want your father locked up," the agent spoke bluntly.

"No, we already told the prosecutors we don't know where he is," Nate explained, just wanting these people out of his house already.

The agent sighed as he shook his head, "That's too bad."

"We'll deal with it," Nate spoke aloud attempting to reassure himself more than anything.

"Maybe _you _will," the agent spoke, "But after spending so much time in your mom's closet, I feel like I know the lady. I don't think she'll adjust so well."

With that final word, the agent gathered his briefcase and left Nate alone in the room to his thoughts as he continued on to do his work. Nate stood there feeling once again as if his life was thrown another curveball. He knew that the agent was right. His mother was born and raised with a certain lifestyle and he honestly didn't know how long she could go on pretending that everything was fine and that everything would be alright, especially after Nate's grandfather had cut her off completely.

Nate began to feel as if his childhood home's walls were closing in on him and he just had to get out of there. He took out his phone and began to dial what had become a familiar number over the summer, just needing to talk to _someone_. When the call immediately went to Catherine's voice mail, Nate decided to leave a message: "Hey. It's me. Uh, listen, I really need to talk to someone. So, um, I need to talk to you. So if you can call me, please."

After he hung up, he didn't know why he didn't call Chuck or even Blair. Maybe he was still trying to avoid their reaction to the situation. They were his best friends and overall he knew that they would be there for him, but there was a small part of him that feared that…like the rest of his mother's friends they'd drop him. Money and status were just as important to them as it was to most of the kids on the Upper East Side and the conversation that he had earlier in the limo with Blair showed that when she wanted to use Marcus as a possible contact. And he had to admit that they have dropped others for less than simply being in bad financial states; he felt bad for thinking of them in such away. He knew that after the scandal broke about his father, despite all the drama going on with them as a group, they stood by him. Maybe he was also worried that with their help he would become their charity case with nothing to offer them in return. He honestly just needed to talk to someone who wouldn't attempt to fix the situation.

Nate left the house to go for a walk to clear his head. Maybe he was overreacting about his friends' reaction to his plight. Just because their parents treated friendship one way, didn't mean that they treated it the same. Hoping that he could figure it out soon, Nate sighed. He knew he needed to at least vent to someone because he didn't know how long he could keep all this mess to himself.

**xoxo**

While Nate's life was falling apart around him, Chuck would be found playing a few rounds with the Lord himself, Marcus Beaton, and he was winning. He had to admit that his father did him a favor with not going easy on him growing up when then they played this game. The taste of victory even made up for the sweating that Chuck had to go through for it. He could admit only to himself that Marcus definitely made him work for it, but Chuck was proving to be superior.

After winning yet another point, Chuck spoke, "Something tells me you're off your game. Anything I can help with?"

"Uh, no one can help," Marcus responded shaking his racket as he attempted to breathe.

"You sure?" Chuck asked, not believing Marcus for a second.

"Well, it's the Duchess," Marcus explained, "You know how it is."

Chuck mentally smirked knowing that this was the key he needed. If Marcus was foolish enough to trust him after he declared war on him earlier, than it was up to Chuck to take advantage of it. Besides, information for him, was information for Blair. Chuck purposely missed the next point before heading back over to Marcus's side, "Tell me."

"No one's ever good enough," Marcus explained as he panted, "I've dated a lot of topflight girls, and even had a few as friends, and she always sends them running; each and every one of them. It's like, she gets inside their heads, figures out their worst fears and just…"

"Ruthlessly exploits that fear," Chuck finished with a nod and a smirk as he was instantly reminded of another woman of similar talents, "It's rough."

"Not to mention, she's completely got my father's ear," Marcus explained, "Of course, Blair is desperate to meet her."

"And when Blair sets her mind on something…" Chuck began as he smiled and got into position for the last round.

"Exactly," Marcus nodded in agreement as he served the ball. After a few back and forth, Chuck won the point and Marcus claimed, "That's a match."

"_Yes it is," _Chuck mentally stated as he shook Marcus's hand.

"I'd say let's keep at it, but I'm sure we both have to get ready for Blair's party," Marcus said as he headed out.

Chuck nodded in agreement, "Definitely."

"Thanks, Chuck. We should do this again," Marcus offered as he picked up his towel, "See you at the Hudson."

"Perfect," Chuck responded, playing nice as he gathered up his things, "And, uh, there was a problem with your cell earlier. Why don't I get your home number?"

"Yeah, sure," Marcus said easily believing the lie. As Chuck added the new number he mentally laughed as he thought of the plan that formed in his head being almost too easy. He knew he should have given Blair some warning to prepare herself for the coming conflict, but in this instance the couple's goals were not aligned. And if he wanted Marcus gone from their lives, he needed to go rogue.

"That was a good match," Marcus responded with a smile as the two walked out together.

Chuck chuckled over at him, "You nearly had me."

**Spotted: Chuck Bass putting his new BFF on speed dial. Is it the beginning of a beautiful bro-mance…or the end of Blair's bid to mingle with the British?**

**xoxo**

Blair smiled as she looked at all that Dorota had done in a mere couple of hours in regards to her party for the evening as she slowly made her way through her penthouse. She had to admit that she was impressed, but then again, Dorota's track record was usually always perfect when it mattered. "Well done, Dorota. I like what I'm seeing," Blair spoke with a smile as she led the way through her penthouse with Dorota following behind her before giving her next set of instructions to make the party perfect, "Now make the library the sky terrace, the Ranunculus Dahlias, the Veuve Clicquot Larent-Pierre, and I think we have ourselves a party. "

"Thank you, Miss Blair," Dorota spoke with a smile of pride.

"This guest list, however, is a complete page one," Blair spoke as she flipped through her pad to look at the list.

"But those are your friends," Dorota responded in confusion.

Blair looked up, feeling irritated as she shoved the clipboard at Dorota, "Then invite strangers!"

She took a mental breath and brought herself back into control before she spoke again, "I have to present myself as a crown jewel, surrounded by other smaller, slightly flawed gems, but quality stones nonetheless. And try to round up a couple of people who can vote so it doesn't feel like a total high school party."

As Serena walked in through the sitting room, Blair dismissed Dorota to get back to work, "A party at the Hudson, huh? I got your message. Since when are you having a party?"

"Since it became clear that Marcus does not think I'm worthy of meeting his family," Blair explained.

"Oh, my god," Serena responded as she took breath and looked away from her best friend's antics.

"Obviously I have some more work to do," Blair finished as she flipped through her planner for the day.

Serena smiled and spoke softly, "B., you don't have to do this."

"Yes, I do," Blair corrected, before looking up from her list, "Marcus dated the descendant of Princess Grace. He interacts with royalty the way that you interact with Brooklynites: with ease and simplicity. I need to show that I can do that as well and to be able to hobnob with oligarchs and dictators."

"Well, if _you_ can't find common ground with a dictator, I don't know who can," Serena teased as she watched her best friend fret.

"Dan likes soccer, right?" Blair asked carefully, "Or "football," as Marcus calls it. You think it'd be too weird if he came?"

"Um, no, not necessarily," Serena spoke wearily, feeling very uncomfortable.

"I mean you two _have _talked right? Figured out if it was best to get back together or the break up was permanent?" Blair asked, having a sinking feeling that Serena had been doing the opposite of that.

"Not quite…" Serena responded, not quite meeting Blair's eyes.

Instantly, Blair knew what happened. Her best friend wasn't one for self-control when it came to certain things and this was proving that Chuck was right when the couple spoke at the White Party. Serena will go down the road of fun and sex before something inevitably happened to force the two to actually talk about their problems and they decide to part ways. Blair made a mental note to talk to Chuck and make sure he was working on the response plan for when that _did _happen amongst his other plans to take down Marcus.

"Well, take my party as the opportunity to do that," Blair offered, hoping Serena would take the opportunity to not go down the road she had already started on, "You two can talk, figuring things out and proceed from there."

Serena nodded softly as she thought about it. She agreed that maybe the party would be the best setting so that she and Dan could focus and not do anything rash like they did on the Jitney or like they did after the White Party, "You're right. It's probably the best setting for it."

"Good. You'll call him?" Blair requested as she checked off another thing on her list.

"Wait, so does this mean you actually think Dan has a redeeming quality?" Serena asked, surprised.

Blair smiled as she looked up at her best friend, "As long as he knows his arse from his arsenal,I think he's aces. I just hope that if you two _do_ decide to reconcile that I don't lose out on getting my old Serena back. I know you were happy with him, but Dan was a bit of a downer."

Serena laughed as Blair pulled her along out of the penthouse to do work for the party, "Now come on. There's lots of work to do."

**xoxo**

While Serena and Blair were off planning the party to end the season, Chuck was busy at home coming up with a game plan for how he wished to proceed in regards to Lord Marcus. He also had another problem arise stemming from the phone call that he had received earlier in the limo. The second problem, to Chuck, was simple. He would do what he needed to do to help. In fact he was doing what he needed to do to help right this very second.

It was then that Chuck heard the sound of the elevator door go off announcing that a visitor had arrived. Chuck excused himself from his companion, having received a heads up from the desk worker downstairs about his pending guest so Chuck wasn't at all surprised at who had come by. He smiled as he welcomed the newcomer, "Nathaniel."

"Hey," Nate greeted back with a sigh before lowering his voice, "Look, could I, uh, could I talk to you for a second?"

"I'm actually in the middle of something," Chuck replied as he put his hands in his pockets.

"Oh. Is Blair here?" Nate inquired, figuring that to be the only reason for Chuck not being available, "I have to say I'm surprised that you managed to distract her from party planning, especially after her stating how important it was."

Chuck smirked, "No, she's busy preparing for tonight, despite my best efforts. It's business."

He glanced behind him, indicating where he left his first guest as he explained further, "I'm, uh, liquidating my shares in Victrola."

"Wait, you're selling the club?" Nate asked in shock, "But you love that place. Besides isn't that a significant place for both you _and _Blair?"

Chuck nodded in agreement as he pursed his lips as he listened to Nate continue on, "Look, Chuck, if you're doing this because of what I said in the car earlier… I mean, come on."

"Look, what you said in the limo was right," Chuck interrupted, "If I'm going to compete with this guy, I have to rise to his level and not play this as if he were some Brooklyn rat."

"Yeah, but don't you think that's a little extreme?" Nate asked, concerned.

"Maybe, but given the situation, it's the right thing to do," Chuck explained simply. He figured it would be best for Nate to believe that Marcus was the reason for Chuck's decision to sell. He knew Nate; he was his brother in all the ways that mattered, and he knew that if Nate found out the real reason he would not be too happy about it.

"And, uh, I should probably get back to it," Chuck made to excuse himself, "The sooner I get it done, the sooner I can settle it with Blair. She can be very sentimental when it matters."

"Okay," Nate nodded as he took a step back, "All right. I, um, I'll see you ya."

As Nate turned away he took out his phone and began to dial his plan B, he knew that Chuck wasn't in the frame of mind to talk about Nate's problems. Fortunately for him, his plan B answered after a couple of rings, "Hey. Yeah, what's going on? What are you up to right now?"

As Chuck watched his friend head out he breathed a sigh of relief at his quick thinking. His mind flashed to after he and Blair dropped off Nate at his house earlier. How Blair questioned him about who was on the phone really, and how Chuck confided in her that it was Nate's mother. After getting all of the details about the problem at hand in regards to Nate, Chuck came up with his current plan to help out. The only roadblock in his plan was Blair. He more than most knew how sentimental she was, but the surprise was that she actually encouraged him to do it. She understood how big of a deal it was and was willing to give her emotional ownership over the place that Chuck had admitted to feeling the butterflies and began their journey that led to where they were now.

Chuck released a soft chuckle to himself as he sat down across from his broker. There was another thing about Blair that he should have considered was that she was loyal to her friends to a fault. She would give up everything she could to help those she deemed family by choice, and in that way the couple was the same.

Chuck sighed before addressing his broker, "Is this going to take much longer? I told Mrs. Archibald we could have it done by tonight."

The broker shook his head in assurance as he continued with his work quickly as Chuck sat back in the settee quietly as his mind raced with all that he needed to get done before he could even arrive at Blair's party for tonight. The last thing he needed was to give the Lord a chance to make his next move.

**xoxo**

Serena had finally managed to get home to get ready for Blair's party. She loved her best friend but sometimes Serena worried that she focused on things that didn't matter for the sake of her position in their circle. Serena didn't understand what the big deal was about Blair making a good impression on Marcus's stepmother; it wasn't as if she was dating the guy or something.

Serena sighed just as her phone started ringing in her bag as she got settled in her room and headed into her closet, glad that no one was home at the moment. She braced herself on the off chance that it was Blair calling to ask Serena's help on some part of the party planning. She swore that Blair was obsessed. Fortunately for her, it wasn't her best friend it was another person entirely and she eagerly answered.

"Hello," she smiled into the phone as she lifted a potential garment for the night up to herself as she looked into the mirror.

"Hey. Hey. It's me," Dan responded.

"Hey, you. Did you get my message?" Serena hoped that this was a sign that he was able to come to the party tonight.

"Yeah. Yeah, and listen, before you say anything else," Dan began "I just want to let you know that, uh, this morning on the-on the bus…"

Serena sighed softly as she turned from the mirror, feeling the regret from earlier return, "Yeah, we didn't exactly stick to the plan, did we?" She returned something to be hung up back in her closet she chuckled to herself at the understatement of the week.

"Well, uh, no. the plan was deeply flawed," Dan responded, "I think we overestimated our powers of restraint…" He chuckled, causing Serena to smile as he continued on with his ramble that she always found so adorable, "Or, uh, I-I did, at least."

Finding something that she felt had potential for tonight, Serena pulled out another dress as she continued her conversation, "Yeah, me, too, but then I realize something."

"Yeah, me, too," Dan surprising responded.

"Really?" Serena asked, pausing before continuing on back to the mirror with her item, deciding to hear what he figured out first.

"Yeah, well, uh…," Serena listened as he spoke out loud his thoughts, "I-I think if we want to figure anything out for real, you know, we- we do need to take some time…alone."

"Oh." To say that Serena was shocked was another understatement. "Sure," she slowly spoke, knowing that from what happened on the bus this morning, not to mention after their night on the beach, that it wasn't a good idea, but Serena didn't want to push him to do something that he didn't want to do. She carefully put her dress down as she tried to come up with an alternative, "Yeah, um, but Blair's not going to like that."

"Blair?" Dan asked, sounding confused.

Serena sighed as she sat down on her bed, knowing that she messed up with her approach and decided to be honest with her intentions, "Yeah, it's actually why I called. Your knowledge of Premier League football is integral to one of her schemes. She just wants you to come to a party." _And give me an opportunity to talk to you without getting caught up in my emotions of how we used to be. _Serena added silently to herself.

"A party?" Dan asked, not sounding too put out.

"Yeah, well, I'll be there," Serena attempted to sweeten the deal as she laid back on her bed, smiling softly, "And I really want to see you."

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess we can star4t with the new plan tomorrow," Dan agreed.

Serena nodded, feeling a bit disappointed that she wouldn't be able to follow through on the plan that her and Blair had come up with. There was a lot the two needed to talk about and Serena understood that she had a lack of self-control when it came to Dan and more than anything she would love to just forget about the past and just start up as if their break up and the summer apart never happened.

But Serena wanted her relationship with Dan to be different than that; she wanted it to be better than it was before. As the conversation wrapped up and she hung up the phone she started to wish that she pushed the subject on their supposed new plan, but she realized why she didn't. She was afraid. She was afraid that he would think that she was pushing him to do something he wasn't ready for and he would say that she wasn't worth it and she'd be left alone wondering and it would be all her fault.

Serena sighed as she shook her head clear of her morbid thoughts. She and Dan _will _talk about their issues eventually. If she learned anything from her mother's many marriages was that the issues that a couple has that get left alone will come up again and again until it was settled or the relationship ended. It was inevitable. Serena just hoped that her and Dan would be strong enough to make it past the storm.

**xoxo**

"You know, they're obviously trying to scare us to get us to rat out my dad," Nate speculated out loud to Vanessa.

After he left Chuck's place, he called Vanessa to see if she was available to talk and she graciously offered him to come over to Mr. Humphrey's gallery where she was converting a small space into a café to help out. It sounded exactly what Nate needed and it didn't take long for him to make the trip to Brooklyn to meet up with her. She was there waiting with a cup of coffee and an open ear to listen. Nate couldn't help but began to pour out all his problems in regards to the FBI taking over his house and the way they were treating him and his mother. He had to admit that it was nice to get this off of his chest and not keep it all bottled up.

"You do know where he is, right?" Vanessa asked as Nate took a sip from his mug.

Nate paused and nodded faintly, "Yeah, but…I couldn't." He looked up at Vanessa, expecting to see judgment, but all he saw was understanding in her eyes as he continued on, "Even after everything he's done."

"Just had to put it out there," She explained as she looked down at her own cup before continuing on, "But _if _the worst-case scenario comes true, I promise my sister and I will give your mom some good pointers on how to do more with less."

Nate laughed, barely able to keep from spitting out his coffee as he quickly put his cup down, "I'd love to see that."

Vanessa laughed with him as she continued on with the joke, "The Salvation Army's having a bag sale on Saturday, and Ruby knows this place in the Village that has two-for-one taco night."

"Stop it," Nate played along in exaggerated eagerness.

"It's lesbian-Mexican. Sometimes their band plays there," Vanessa explained, smiling.

Before Nate could respond, his phone rang beside him on the counter. Seeing that it was his mother, he picked up the phone, figuring that it was time to talk to her, "Um, just one second, okay?"

He walked further into the gallery for some privacy as he answered the phone, "Hey, mom."

"Hey, Nate. I just wanted to apologize for scaring you this morning," his mother spoke sincerely into the phone, "It turns out I was able to fix things after all."

"How?" Nate asked in surprise, before coming to an obvious conclusion as he leaned onto a nearby crate, "You didn't tell them where dad is, did you?"

"Of course not," Anne reassured, "I just got a loan from a family friend."

"From who?" Nate asked, feeling even more suspicious. He knew that his mother's fiends had all basically exiled her and there were few that he knew would offer to help with that kind of cash, not to mention that his mother would actually talk about her financial problems with someone who wasn't, in fact, family.

"That doesn't matter," Anne responded.

"Okay, but I just find it hard to believe that you opened up to one of the book club ladies and told them we're completely broke," Nate whispered into the phone to avoid raising his voice.

"He's not in book club, Anne explained, "He's outside of my regular circle."

"Oh, so you just asked someone you barely know for money?" Nate asked, mentally seeing how the situation was even worse than he originally thought.

"I didn't ask. He offered, and when I tried to refuse, he insisted that it was the right thing to do," Anne explained.

"The right thing to do?" Nate asked as he paused. The phrase brought to mind a conversation he had a couple of hours ago with someone else entirely. He began to get a bad feeling as he asked his next question, "You said he's outside of your regular circle? Is he in mine?"

"Nate, please stop it. Let me do this," Anne tried to dissuade him.

"Okay, fine," Nate snapped back, getting irritated, "I won't bring it up again."

He hung up the phone without saying goodbye and felt his anger grow even more. There goes something else in his life that was happening with him being the last one to know. Nate forced himself to take a deep breath as he headed back into the make-shift café to where Vanessa was waiting for him. He knew he needed to get some answers and he didn't have the luxury to wait.

"Everything okay?" Vanessa asked concerned.

"No, actually, it's not," Nate spoke as he looked down at his phone, "Look, I gotta go. I'll come back later tonight, but I have to find Chuck first." As he turned to head out, he realized something and turned around. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, the place looks great. I'm so glad I called you. I really missed you this summer." And he meant it. It wasn't until he actually heard her voice on the other end of the line when he called that he realized that he missed being able to talk to someone outside of his circle with a different perspective on the world. She had a way of making him feel like it was _him _she was talking to, not the façade of Nate Archibald. He smiled at her as he left, fiddling with his phone in hopes that he could reach Chuck on the phone instead of running around Manhattan trying to find him, worse-case scenario he'd have to look at the spotted map on Gossip Girl.

He was so wrapped up in his plan to find Chuck he didn't even hear Vanessa's response of "Thanks and me, too."

**xoxo**

As Chuck sat waiting patiently in the Hudson on the main floor, waiting for his guest. He knew that Blair would not be happy and if he failed he knew he wouldn't be in his Queen's good graces. But it was a risk he was willing to take to achieve his goals. His war with Marcus was something to kill time with and Chuck knew he needed to make a move to show that going to war with him wasn't to be taken lightly.

Seeing that his pawn had not made an appearance yet, Chuck began to think about the events of the day. He managed to liquidate his holdings with Victrola not too long after Nate left and transferred the funds to Anne right on schedule. She was very grateful and was very big on emphasizing that it was _just _a loan and that when everything was once again in order, she would repay him. Chuck shrugged it off and again reminded her that Nate was like a brother to him and it was the least he could do to help out his friend and his family if he was able to.

He wasn't naïve to believe that Nate would never find out about what he had done, but he hoped that it wouldn't be until quite some time later when the dust settled a bit. Before his mind let him linger on that thought for too long, he looked up towards the entrance and smirked when he saw the woman he was waiting for, Catherine Beaton. He had to admit that she was very attractive and, from what Marcus told him of her reputation of running off any female that had any hopes of getting close to the Lord, she knew how to use her attributes. It was definitely going to be an interesting evening.

"Charles Bass?" She asked after approaching him.

Chuck slowly stood, shaking the woman's hand as he spoke, "I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting anyone so young or so beautiful."

"Just because I didn't give birth to Marcus doesn't mean I'm any less interested in his well-being," Catherine responded. Chuck found himself beginning to smile, already tasting victory, but knowing that now wasn't the time to celebrate just yet as Catherine continued on, "I don't usually take meetings with children, Charles, so what do you have to say for yourself?"

Chuck smirked as he slowly walked around the Duchess indicating that she should take a seat as he answered, "Plenty."

**Lordy, Lordy, look who's 40: or at least a well-preserved 38. We knew Chuck had a thing for older women, but is this risky business or strictly business? We wonder how Queen B would react to her Dark Knight socializing so closely to his old games?**

While Chuck was doing a little pre-gaming, Blair's party up on the rooftop was in full swing. Blair stood by Marcus as the group listened to the entertainment that Blair booked for the evening, a two piece ensemble playing Boccherini's Minuet from 'string Quintet in E Major'. Unfortunately for Blair, the music and it seemed the party was as dull as Marcus was before Blair found out he was a Lord. She casually glanced around at the strangers that Dorota invited and it was just horrible.

As the song ended, Blair put on a big smile and applauded loudly and did what she did best, pretend that everything was perfect. Doing her best from grimacing she turned towards Marcus, "Wasn't that wonderful?"

She turned towards the entertainment, still smiling, "Thank you Ingrid and Beatrice."

"_I'm _Ingrid. _She's _Beatrice," the harp player corrected.

"That's what I said," Blair responded, trying her best not to snap at the woman before turning her attention back to the man beside her, mentally wondering where in the world was Chuck Bass when she needed him. "Ah! I just love Mozart."

"Uh, that wasn't Mozart," Marcus attempted to interrupt, but Blair was well aware that her party was sinking fast and if it was going to grant Blair success in her goals she was going to need to quickly distract the man by her side.

"Come, come," Blair urged as she led Marcus away, holding her glass in her hand. As she saw someone approach Marcus, she continued on to her best friend, finally allowing her anxiety to show.

"Blair, who are these people?" Serena asked as she glanced around, not recognizing _anyone_.

"Dorota invited them," Blair explained, feeling a bit ashamed that she has gone this far in her scheme.

Serena laughed as she saw her best friend realize that she may have obsessed this party to death. She stopped laughing though when she saw in the distance Dorota leading Dan in. Blair glanced over to where Serena was looking and smiled to her best friend before heading over to greet the Brooklynite, ignoring Serena's protests. At least one thing will _hopefully _go right at this party.

"Dan, Hi!" Blair greeted the outsider with enthusiasm as she pulled him over, "Come meet the Lord."

"Okay," Dan responded a bit reluctantly as he pulled in front of Marcus shaking his hand. "Uh, Hello Lord, I'm Dan Humphrey."

"Marcus Beaton. Nice to meet you, Dan," Marcus responded before motioning over to Serena beside him, "Do you know Serena?"

There was a slight pause as Blair remembered that she didn't mention that Humphrey was Serena's ex before the former couple smiled politely at each other and Humphrey responded with a simple, "I do."

"He does," Serena answered as well as Blair watched on, sensing that the two were still in the awkward stages of post break up.

"Dan is a huge football fanatic," Blair explained to Marcus, trying so hard to put herself in the best light that if she were watching herself she would have shaken her head at how pathetic she was acting, "He's a BIG Chelsea fan."

"Oh, me, too," Serena added in, "I just love the Balenciaga store."

Blair smiled at Serena's joke, grateful that she was at least attempting to help. But it seemed that the stars were against them because the joke was lost on Marcus and it was surprising that he wasn't the least bit charmed by Serena. Blair found herself just chugging her drink down. She honestly didn't know what she was thinking! She more than anyone should know that a party thrown at the last minute was a disaster waiting to happen. Even though she was outside, Blair didn't feel as if there was enough air in the world to help clear her head and she more than anything wished that Chuck was here already to help her relax and not sweat the small stuff.

"Freshen your drink?" Marcus offered.

Blair continued forcing her smile as she handed her glass over, "Yes, please."

Deciding to just let Serena and Humphrey have their conversation she turned away and went off to attempt to mingle with the rest of her guests and mentally curse Chuck for not being here! The one time that he wasn't there when she needed him was the one time that she needed him the most!

Serena watched her best friend go wallow with sympathy as she walked off with Dan, knowing that even though the party was a bust, Blair was still attempting to give her the alone time needed for her to have the conversation she needed in order to get on the same page with Dan. And Serena would have been grateful for it, if Dan hadn't already offer up a new plan for how they could proceed with their attempt at moving forward.

"So, uh…," Dan began as she held his hand, "She actually refers to him as "The Lord"?"

Serena laughed as she nodded, turning towards him, "Yeah. I'm so glad that you're here." As she glanced over Dan's shoulder she sighed in relief, "Chuck."

"The name's Dan," Dan corrected with a smile.

"No, Chuck's here, and he's late. But fortunately he's probably the only one who can calm Blair down from her crazy," Serena explained as she watched her step-brother greet a few people.

Dan looked over his shoulder and nodded, "Who's his plus one?"

Serena froze as she saw the woman with Chuck and recognized her from the White Party. "That's Nate's…," she quickly stopped talking as she realized what she almost said out loud to Dan and quickly finished, "Mom's friend. Um, I have to go. I'll be back."

She didn't know why Catherine was here or what was going on, but she knew it would lead to nothing but trouble. Fortunately it could have been a lot worse if Nate decided to show. As she saw Blair approach the two, Serena quickly made her way over to find out what was going on.

At the sight of Chuck _finally _making an entrance, Blair felt as if she could finally relax. He had that effect on her. She quickly made her way over, ignoring the woman beside him and put the first genuine smile of the evening at her boyfriend, "Chuck, you're late."

Chuck smiled as his girlfriend gave him a kiss in greeting, "Blair, forgive me. You know I'm always one to make an entrance. Besides I had a bit of business to attend to. I thought you might like to meet my friend."

Blair finally acknowledged the older woman's presence, not having seen her before, mentally wrote her off as someone not of importance at least at this party and spoke as she turned back to her boyfriend, "Why? So she can warn me about the effects of too much Botox?"

Chuck had to press his lips together very hard to prevent from laughing out loud at his girlfriend's wit. Unfortunately for Blair, it was going to be a point against her in this situation. As Catherine spoke up, "Blair, is it?"

Blair took a mental deep breath as she turned towards the woman in question and simply smiled as the woman introduced herself, "I'm Duchess Beaton."

Blair immediately felt mortified and did her best to hide it and bounce back with the social grace that she'd been trained with since was born, but all she could do was respond as her best friend came up beside her, "The Duchess?"

"The Duchess?" Serena echoed as she realized just how big of a mess Nate had gotten himself into. It wasn't until times like these that one realizes just how small of a world it really was when a teen from the Upper East Side has an affair with a married Duchess who's step son was dating said teen's ex-girlfriend.

"It's nice to meet you," Blair responded as she looked over at her boyfriend, "Can I speak to you for a moment alone, Chuck, now."

Chuck simply smiled and motioned her to lead the way as she smiled at Catherine before leading her boyfriend away. When the two finally alone in a quiet corner she turned on him, "What are you up to, Bass?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about Waldorf," Chuck lied with ease, "I simply knew that you wanted an introduction with the Duchess and I provided it for you."

Blair narrowed her eyes as she put the pieces together, "Don't think me naïve, Chuck. This isn't about me and my goals, this is about you and _your _goals. You're trying to sabotage me in the hopes that it would get rid of Marcus faster."

Chuck couldn't keep up the façade with her and simply spoke the truth, "Yes, I am, but there are worse things I could have done to succeed and you know it."

Blair crossed her arms in agitation, knowing that it was true as he continued on, "At the end of the day, either you win and gain favor with the Duchess or I win and she starts working Marcus against you. The Blair Waldorf I know would take that small set back from earlier and do what needs to get done to win."

"And if I don't win?" Blair retorted back.

"Then it's one contact not at your disposal for now," Chuck responded softly, "It doesn't equal the end of Blair Waldorf, just the end of the Lord and Blair Waldorf; if even that."

Blair looked around the room. The entire situation screamed last minute. She didn't have the time to prepare for this opportunity, she didn't adequately prepare this party for royalty, she was completely off her game and she hated that. This was not the type of powerful woman Blair Waldorf aspired to be; it was just a mess.

She smiled deceivingly at her boyfriend as she fixed his collar, "You, my dear boyfriend, are in trouble. Depending on how the night ends will reveal to me just how _much _trouble you are really in. But until then," she broke off as she purposely stepped on his foot hard, relishing his grunt of pain as she patted his shoulder, "tread lightly my love."

Chuck panted as she watched her depart, even though his foot hurt, he found himself falling even more in love with Blair Waldorf. The sight of the passion and fire in her eyes as she was greeted with a challenge was breathtaking and he found himself waiting with anticipation for how she was going to punish him. No one could doll out punishment like her when she felt particularly wronged and Chuck knew that it would be in the cards for him when he set this plan in motion after his squash game with Marcus. Call him a masochist, but he enjoyed being punished every once and a while.

**xoxo**

Deciding to not go look for either Marcus or the Duchess, Blair immediately found Serena not too far from where she was talking to Chuck. Seeing how angry Blair was before she went to talk to Chuck, Serena made a point to stay close by to help her best friend move forward from this. Blair took another deep breath took Serena's arm to lead her around for a walk around the room and a quick recon on her options, "So obviously I need to fix my blunder in order to keep the cards in my favor with my friendship with the Lord."

Serena smiled as she saw that Blair wasn't going to let her mistake from earlier completely knock her out just yet with succeeding in her goals, "Well if you genuinely like Marcus, I don't see why a simple apology wouldn't fix things."

Blair shook her head, "What good would that do me now?"

Before the two could continue on with options, the woman in question was just across the way, picking up a drink from a nearby wait staff, and before Blair could even form a thought, Serena was already pushing her over to the Duchess to at least start apologizing. Blair did her best to act as if the action didn't faze her; to be honest, it was classic Serena to think that a simple apology would fix such a major social faux pas. Just look at what happened when she agreed on Blair's behalf for her and the minions to go to Butter when she was at war with Jenny Humphrey!

Deciding that it wouldn't hurt to at least give it a try, Blair began to speak, "Duchess?" When Catherine turned her attention towards her, Blair continued on with her heartfelt apology, "I am so sorry about what I said about the Botox. Your work is flawless."

Blair mentally scolded herself as the last sentence slipped from her lips and into the air. What was wrong with her?! She was Blair Waldorf. Parents adored her and wished that their own daughters could be anything close to her in regards to social grace and charm and for some reason all of that has jumped off of the rooftop deck and plunged a horrific death onto Park Avenue, leaving her there with nothing but the social graces close to a person raised in Brooklyn for god's sake!

She glanced over at her best friend and took a moment to reconfigure her thoughts before turning back and trying again, "Look, I know you arrived with Chuck, and I can only imagine what he's said about me," Blair reflected aloud, knowing that Chuck was attempting to sabotage her efforts and wouldn't pull any stops to win, "Limo sex, social torture of freshmen, blackmail. But I assure you, there is an explanation for all of it."

"Save your breath, Blair," Catherine responded coolly, "Chuck didn't tell me a thing."

Blair frowned in confusion, "Oh. He didn't?"

"Wait. He didn't?" Serena asked too for confirmation as she leaned into the conversation. When Chuck Bass was trying to ruin people or plans he usually did with simply telling the truth. That was what Chuck Bass was all about! To say it was a shock to both girls was putting it lightly.

"I told him not to bother," Catherine said lightly as she shook her head, "None of it makes any difference to me." Blair started to feel herself relax and hope that she could win this, but the thought was killed as the Duchess continued on, "Because nothing will change the fact that despite your best efforts, which are completely transparent, by the way, Marcus is never going to bring into the fold a lowly Waldorf."

Blair honestly didn't know what to even say to that. If it was some other person in her circle she would have had the Intel to cut the woman down quick and easily. She would have had higher social status on her side, but the Duchess had that on her in spades. Catherine's words cut Blair to the bone because at the end of the day, she wasn't a Queen. Not yet. She was just a Queen of a high school. The ambition she had to be Queen of something more was out of her reach and if she couldn't even woo someone like the Duchess to welcome her in to the world, what hopes did she have of being able to woo others to follow her after high school?

Serena didn't know how to help her friend after the quick and painful cut down by Catherine. AS she glanced around she saw Nate approaching them and knew that the situation was about to get worse, "Nate."

Blair and the Duchess turned towards the new arrival as Serena went to greet him, "Um…"

Nate smiled in greeting as he noticed what he just walked into as Catherine called out to him, "Nate?"

"Catherine?" he responded in disbelief before catching himself as he noticed Blair.

Blair frowned as she noticed that little bit of information as Serena tried to move Nate away, but Blair wanted to know exactly what was going on as she asked in confusion, "You two know each other?"

"No. No, no, no," Serena interjected as she and Nate slowly moved over to where Blair and Catherine stood as she began to ramble, "Yeah, well, just from Book Club this summer. But that's it. They've had no other personal contact."

Blair moved her head to the right at Serena, not believing her for a second as Serena made the introductions, "Uh, Blair's dating Catherine's stepson. And, Catherine, Nate's Blair's ex."

The group took in the supposed new information as they glanced at each other. Nate looking amazed and confused, while Catherine's face was clear with a hint of confusion, Blair had a look of suspicion as she mentally made a note to look into it later, while Serena refused to make eye contact with anyone. The party had definitely taken a turn from dull to WTF territory.

**What's this? Chuck's and Blair's plus ones are mother and son, and Nate and Blair are exes, and Nate and the mother are in a book club?**

**Now **_**there's **_**a novel plot twist.**

**xoxo**

Thankfully the group dispersed with Catherine being greeted by someone she knew and Nate off trying to find Chuck, the reason that he was even at the party to begin with. Serena took it upon herself to lead Blair away so the brunette could lick her wounds in peace instead of attacking anyone who moved to take her frustrations out on. The party was basically coming to an end anyway and she didn't even get the opportunity to talk to Dan even a little bit about their relationship, and after what was going on with Blair, Serena was seeing the benefit of simply just letting it go and moving forward with Dan. They could cross the hurdles and figure it out when they come; she just knew that she enjoyed being around him again.

"This party's a complete bust," Blair announced as she sulked by the railing, overlooking the spectacular New York skyline, "My whole life's a bust."

"Well, it serves you right," Serena responded, resulting in Blair frowning at her supposed best friend as the blonde continued on, "You were scheming to convince Marcus you're someone you're not."

Blair pouted a bit, knowing that Serena was right and it was something that Blair, herself, realized back during that horrible string quintet performance, but she attempted anyway to defend herself, "But my intentions were good. I really do enjoy his company, when he actually loosens up a bit." She turned to look out at the view, "I just…as soon as I knew that he did genuinely want to be friends and not some secret, I would have relaxed and dropped the manipulative plotting and devoted myself to being the best girl-friend ever."

Serena lifted her brow at her best friend, doubt obviously showing, resulting in Blair coming clean, "Alright. At least until he went back to England and owed me a favor."

Serena smiled, "See? Thank you. There's my B. Although I shouldn't be encouraging you to use him like this, this is you in regards to your friendships and acquaintances. You don't try this hard for new people in your life, especially those who you deemed boring for the first month of knowing them. You are effortlessly charming around authority figures and can wrap them all around your well-manicured finger. Show this girl to Catherine, and she'll want you in her circle as much as you do. Just be yourself."

Blair looked at Serena as if she were crazy, "She made "Waldorf" rhyme with "Spears." I may as well have gone commando and held my party at Nyla's burger basket."

"Serena rested her head in her hand as she smiled at Blair's dramatics, "Fine. While you stand here and feel sorry for yourself and denigrate the fine people of Kentwood, I'm gonna go find Dan."

Blair sighed softly as she realized that while dealing with her own issues, Serena had yet to have the opportunity to have the much needed conversation with Humphrey to figure out if getting back together was the best thing, and Blair began to feel a bit guilty. She was supposed to be helping her best friend and she got distracted trying to impress a Duchess and a Lord. This wasn't the type of Queen she wanted to be. Contacts come and go, but her true friends were her family and they mean more to her than some random "Best Friend for Now".

Blair put on a slight smile and nodded, "Go ahead. There's still that conversation that you two need to have."

Serena smiled as she squeezed Blair's hand gently and turned to leave with a soft, "Cheer up." She knew that her best friend would figure it out and besides the friends made a plan to have a sleep over tonight at Serena's to talk freely about the party and Blair's next move as well as how well the talk with Dan went and Serena's final decision, so either way, she'll find out what happened by the end of the night.

**xoxo**

While Blair was stewing in her embarrassment, Chuck was doing what he did best: sitting in a corner and people watching. He just received his drink from the bartender as Nate came up behind him looking upset and a look of betrayal as he hissed at him, "I can't believe you'd do this to me."

Chuck frowned in confusion about what Nate could possibly be talking about. The brief thought flashed in his head that he was referring to the money, but Chuck figured that it was much too soon for Nate to have found out about that so he went with the more obvious response, "Bring the Duchess to Blair's party? What do you care?"

As Chuck attempted to walk away, Nate held onto his arm, "No, I know about the money."

Chuck mentally kicked himself, he seriously wasn't ready to have this conversation especially here in front of strangers, but from the look on Nate's face, he wanted to have this conversation now. Chuck sighed as he spoke, "Nate…"

"No," Nate stopped him from attempting to explain as the two continued to walk to a quiet corner as Nate continued to paint the picture, "You weren't trying to sell Victrola to impress Blair. You did it to loan my family money?"

Chuck frowned as he turned to his best friend, not really understanding why he was acting like this, "Look, you say it like it's a bad thing."

"No, and maybe you were just doing it to be a friend, but I would never let you do that, and you knew that, which is why you didn't tell me," Nate accused, feeling hurt and a bit betrayed that once again someone close to him was lying to attempt to protect him.

"Yes, it is. So what?" Chuck asked bluntly.

"So what? You go behind my back and make a deal with my mom?" Nate asked trying to get the last bit of information he needed as to how this even came about.

"She called me to see if I thought you were okay," Chuck snapped back, "I didn't know what she was talking about, because you didn't tell me anything was wrong."

"I'll tell you what's wrong: my best friend lying to my face," Nate lashed out.

"Look, normally, I would agree with you," Chuck responded, mentally taking a step back, evaluate and admit that he _did_ go about this in the wrong way, "But for your mom to open up to me about something like this, don't you think it has to be pretty bad?"

Nate knew that Chuck was right. It was the thought that he refused to let himself entertain the moment realized what Chuck did. Anne Archibald was one of the proudest of women on the Upper East Side and for her to accept Chuck's offer of help showed that they were worse off than what Nate could even imagine. "I'll handle it, okay?" Nate responded after a pause.

"How?" Chuck asked the question that was currently circulating through Nate's mind after he made the declaration this morning that he was supposed to take care of his mother. The one question of how he was going to be able to help keep him and his mother afloat and help them to continue to survive this storm. He didn't know. As he walked away without answering Chuck, he knew he should have at the very least thanked Chuck for his help, but he just couldn't. He was too ashamed and embarrassed that his life has resulted to this. Maybe Anne wasn't the only proud one in the Archibald family after all.

**xoxo**

Serena was about to give up on ever finding Dan when she got the idea that he may have gone to the bathroom and headed in that direction. Fortunately for her she caught him just as he was calling an elevator to head out. She quickly called out to him, "Dan, hey. You leaving?"

She smiled as he looked over at her with the look that almost never changed. It was the look of amazement and genuine happiness to see her. It made Serena feel warm and safe when he looked at her like that. Like she mattered to him and meant something, which was all that she wanted growing up. To simply matter.

"Yeah, I have to get Jenny from the train," Dan explained, "I didn't know if you were coming back, so…"

"How about I come with you?" Serena offered, her decision having been made that she wanted Dan to keep looking at her in that special way of his. To continue to feel what she felt when she was with him. She looked around and saw that they were completely alone in the corridor and asked him a question, "Why don't we get out of here?"

Dan looked a bit confused, so Serena took over the reins and pushed him up against the wall, his arms quickly wrapping around her waist as she brushed her nose along with his and whispered, "Who are we kidding?"

She ran her hands up into his hair as she offered, "What do you say we just forget thinking and follow our hearts?"

Dan wasted no time in pulling her towards him and passionately kissed her right in the open where anyone could see making it pretty obvious on what he thought of Serena's offer. Serena just let her emotions guide her as it always did in these situations. Just like she told Blair to stop trying to be someone she wasn't, it was time that Serena followed her own advice. When it came to her love life, Serena was all for going with the flow of things and getting swept up in the abyss of it all. She didn't think about the future, she just took it one day at a time. And that was what she was going to do with Dan. Sure it may be a mistake, but she couldn't find it in her to regret it.

"Mmm," Dan moaned as Serena broke the kiss to let him talk, "Are you sure that's your heart you're following? Cause…"

Serena laughed as she responded, "Shut up, or I'll change my mind."

"Hey, clearly, there are other forces at work here in the universe, so…," Dan justified to them both.

Serena smiled as she kissed him again and again, "Mmm. Forces much more powerful than us."

Dan nodded eagerly as the two continued to make out, unaware of the company they were about to receive. Dan whispered against Serena's lips with a smile, "I'm glad we had this little talk."

Nate cleared his throat, attempting to gain the renewed couple's attention a bit surprised at what he found as he was planning to go meet Vanessa like he promised. When that didn't work he just asked the obvious question, "Um…are you two back together or…"

Serena and Dan pulled apart and looked at Nate, playing it off that their little make out session was nothing. "Uh, no. This was just a little, uh, friendly-," Dan tried to cover for them while Serena just stood there with her hands on her hips saying nothing.

"Kiss, yeah," Nate finished Dan's sentence with a nod.

"Mm-hmm," Dan agreed with a nod to which Nate returned.

It was then that the elevator made its appearance, giving the couple an opportunity to escape the awkward pause that had begun upon Nate's arrival. Serena quickly grabbed Dan's hand as she spoke to Nate, "Okay. Are you coming?"

Nate's phone notification went off before he could answer and he took it out to see who it was. It was a text message from Catherine stating that she was in the library and that she wanted him to come meet her there. Deciding that he still had time to meet Vanessa after he talked to Catherine, Nate made his excuses that he'd head down later. After the big revelations of the night and his renewed feelings in regards to Vanessa, he didn't think it was a good idea to continue the affair and now was as good a time as any to end it officially.

He shook his head as the two got into the elevator far from being done with their little make-out plans as Nate headed in the direction of the library, mentally trying to come up with a plan of how he was going to do it. By the time he finally arrived and shut the door behind him, he figured that being honest was the best thing so when he found her there with a smile and sultry, "Hey."

Nate just stated the obvious as he sat down on the couch, "This is so messed up."

"Your ex being friends with my stepson while he's attempting to pursue her? Yes it is," Catherine agreed with a nod before she slowly took a seat beside him, "But I actually do know you, Nate. That isn't what's bothering you."

Nate glanced at her as he began to talk about what's on his mind, "Well, I think I'm starting to get it, you know, how things are going to be now that the summer's over. I mean, it would be kind of nice to have someone who could actually be there." Catherine sighed as she rested her hand on Nate's shoulder, but before she could attempt to comfort him, Nate stood up and finished what he wanted to say, "But when the best version of the situation is that I'm going to become a father-in-law to Blair? I think it's just time to move on, Catherine."

"No, wait, Nate," Catherine spoke as she stood up, trying to dissuade him, "Come on, I'm here now, and I want to talk. Just tell me what's going on."

Nate looked at her as she held his head in her hands. Sure he had Vanessa he could turn to, but they were just friends and he _did _have feelings for Catherine and she was showing signs that she genuinely cared about him and what was going through his head that he had to admit that it was nice. Without realizing it, Nate found himself pouring out everything that had been going on in the past year with his family. And he kept talking until he got to the end with the revelations that came this morning at the house.

Catherine didn't say anything at first as she attempted to absorb everything that he told before she turned to him, "Personally, I think Anne Archibald would rather die than lose her house, her things. They're her whole identity."

"And that's why I'm not going to let that happen," Nate responded firmly as he crossed his arms as Catherine told him things that he already knew. As Catherine looked at him with the silent question of "How?", Nate answered with, "I'll find a way."

"God, but it's not what she's gonna have to live without," Catherine tried to explain to him, "It's what she's going to have to live _with_."

Nate paused, not quite following with what she meant by that, but as she continued on, he began to understand, "I mean, a scandal will destroy her. Can you imagine her watching her house seized, her grandmother's jewels up for auction?"

"I told you, I'll figure something out," Nate repeated himself, knowing that his mother wouldn't be able to handle going through that. He looked at Catherine straight in the eye and said firmly, "I can handle this. I just need some time."

"Yeah," Catherine nodded in agreement as she slowly walked towards him, "You _can _take care of this…with my help."

Nate sighed as he looked down, not wanting to take another hand out. Almost sensing that he was going to turn her down, Catherine spoke softly as she ran her hands up and down his chest, "It'd just be between you and me. No one would have to know. I care about you, Nate. I would do it for you."

Nate looked at her, knowing that what she was offering wasn't going to come without some sort of price, "And what would I have to do for you?"

She simply smiled as she stroked his face and pulled him towards her as he went willingly; he knew that this was a bad idea. He knew he should have just swallowed his pride and accept Chuck's help and see it as an opportunity to give him the time he needed to come up with a plan on his own to help his mother. In the end he was accepting money from his lover in exchange for sex instead of accepting money from his best friend. In the end he decided that he was already ashamed of his circumstances what's a little more shame added to the mix.

No one would find out and if they do, they would just assume it was just about sex instead of something more. They would never guess that anything else was going on, and with his mother living in the Hamptons while the townhouse was being swept by the FBI she would never know. She could even assume that it stemmed from Chuck's loan. He wasn't planning on doing this for long, just until he figured out an alternative option. After a while, Nate stopped thinking as he hovered over Catherine as he had done before so many times. He just focused on the present and what he was doing, the rest he'd worry about later.

**xoxo**

After some time alone on the deck and people watched a bit, Blair decided to take Serena's advice and relax. She wasn't going to be some Jenny Humphrey that tried too hard to gain acceptance. She was Blair Waldorf and nothing could stop her from finishing and succeeding in her goals. Chuck knew it and so did Serena, as well as their peers on the Upper East Side. If Blair Waldorf wanted to go global, she wasn't going to let some Duchess stop her. Her decision made she started in her search for the Duchess. Having already seen Chuck slip out after some confrontation with Nate earlier, she could only assume that Nate found out about Chuck's aid to help and was too caught up in the details to really realize how much of a best case scenario it was.

Serena sent Blair a text saying that she'd meet her at the Van Der Bass house for their sleepover after she was finished with Dan and went with him to pick Jenny Humphrey from the train station. Blair chose not to worry too much about that. She could only fix Serena's problems for as long as Serena saw them as problems. Once that stopped, Blair's help wasn't welcomed and frankly, Blair found the entire process a bit exhausting when she had her own problems added to the mix. All she could do is be supportive and be there when/if it fell apart.

She asked several people as she passed if they had seen the Duchess and it wasn't until she spoke to Dorota that she finally got an answer, "Dorota, have you seen the Duchess?"

"In Library," Dorota pointed in the direction she needed to go.

Blair smiled and was quickly on her way, not saying another word to her maid. She was a woman on a mission and she will simply say what she had to say and be done with it. When she opened the door and looked inside, she didn't see anyone in there. She assumed that maybe the Duchess had left and Dorota missed her departure and was about to turn to leave when she heard a moan.

She paused and looked over her shoulder, not sure where the sounds were coming from as she slowly walked further into the room, taking in everything in the room. It wasn't until she stepped into the main part of the room that she saw them. It took a moment for her to realize what it was that she was seeing. There was no way that she was being blessed something this monumental to her cause. There was no way that Blair Waldorf was going from down and out to up on top. It was the best thing that could happen and _she _was there to witness it all!

"Oh, my effing God!" Blair exclaimed unable to stop herself from responding. This was just too good for her to walk away from.

Her shock filled voice drew the attention of the two people currently panting and grinding on the floor, who, up until that very moment, were unaware of Blair's presence. When they both looked up at her, Blair shook her head at amazement that the source of her good fortune stemmed from Nate Archibald of all people! She just couldn't take her eyes away from the scene as the two quickly stood up and righted their clothing to leave.

As Nate straightened his shirt he finally spoke up as he made to leave, "Well, I don't have to explain myself to you."

Blair smirked as she watched him go, speaking softly, "No explanation necessary. I think I got it."

"Catherine?" Nate called out to the woman, still adjusting her dress.

Blair smiled as she turned her attention back to the Duchess and answered for her, "She'll just be one more minute, if you don't mind."

Catherine nodded in agreement and Nate quickly headed out, figuring that it was probably best that he left alone to avoid any question that may be stirred up. He decided he'd just meet her downstairs in her car and he could take the opportunity to call Vanessa and give his excuses for why he couldn't come hang out with her tonight like he promised after realizing how late he already was.

Blair walked even further into the room before she took a familiar stance mentally as she noticed Catherine's shoe on the ground. She gently picked it up and gingerly handed it to the Duchess with a smile, "Here you go."

Catherine took it wearily as Blair adopted a look of remorse as she began to spoke, "Can I just say how sorry I am that I judged you earlier?"

"_You _judged _me_?" Catherine asked for clarification.

"I thought you were just a callow, social-climbing former swimsuit model who married above her station only to be enslaved by her own insecurities," Blair explained as she tilted her head to the side. Yes, _this _was Blair Waldorf. "But now that I've seen you rolling around on the floor with my adolescent ex," Blair smiled as she paused briefly before she finished, "I understand you have a compassionate side, too."

"What are you saying, Blair?" Catherine asked, obviously wanting to cut right to the chase. Which Blair understood since she had someone waiting for her downstairs.

"That I think you'll find it in your heart to take pity on me, and in spite of my common, lowly, unroyal ways, accept that I do think Marcus as a friend and he feels the same way. Maybe even a bit more…"

When Catherine said nothing but look away, realizing that she was stuck, Blair simply stated, "I think that would be the best thing for both of us, don't you?"

Before the deal could be set, Marcus walked in, "Oh, there you are."

Blair smiled, "Hello."

"Hello, Darling," Catherine called out in welcome.

"Am I too late?" Marcus asked hesitantly as he stood by Blair, "As soon as I heard you were at Blair's party, Duchess, I knew I had to find you and do damage control. Is there still time, or have you already scared Blair off?"

Blair looked over at the Duchess with a look of pure innocence that she had perfected many years ago as she waited for the woman's answer. "Not at all, dear," Catherine answered with a smile, "Blair here is a treat. I can see why you're so fond of her."

Blair and Marcus shared a smile, "She never likes the women in my life, but frankly I'm not surprised that you're the exception. I had hoped that you two would find something in common."

Blair smiled happily, "She just had to get to know the real me. Now if you'd be so kind as to help me wrap up this party? I'm afraid it's been a long day."

"Of course," Marcus agreed as he led Blair out of the library. Blair couldn't help but give one last look over her shoulder at the Duchess as she left, reveling in her triumph.

**xoxo**

Chuck was alone in the kitchen with his thoughts when he heard Blair and Serena walking down the hallway. He hadn't heard from Nate and he figured that he would let his friend have the time by himself to figure out the drama that was going on with his family. The only regret Chuck had was that he lied to Nate about his motives in selling his share of the club. He should have just been honest, but since Nate didn't tell him what was going on he didn't know how to go about doing that. Chuck was all for fixing the problem first and asking question later when it came to those he cared about.

He just hoped that this wasn't the beginning of another downward spiral of his friendship. He didn't like it last year when they'd been on the outs with the revelation of him and Blair being an actual couple and the last thing he wanted was to go back there. Deciding to nix the original idea of alcohol, Chuck decided to go with a simple glass of Orange juice instead. It was then that Serena and Blair saw him.

"Great," Serena spoke up first, knowing that Blair was still a bit angry with Chuck with that stunt he pulled at her party and she really didn't want to witness what was sure to be messy altercation.

"Actually, Serena, can we have a second?" Blair asked with a smile as she looked at her boyfriend.

"Mm," Serena agreed before quickly taking Chuck's glass to avoid the upcoming mess to be a physical one, "Um, I'll take that and I'll just leave you two alone."

Chuck just rolled his eyes at Serena's antics as Blair moved to lean against the counter top across from him. He couldn't help but smirk as he joined her, "Did you enjoy meeting Duchess Beaton?"

Blair smiled as she answered, "I did."

Chuck paused as he realized she was being serious, "That's not sarcasm in your voice. It's-"

"Victory," Blair finished for him as she relished once again in her triumph and shrugged, "I know. Your plan to sabotage me totally backfired. It turns out Marcus' mommy is even sicker than you are."

Chuck looked at her in amazement as he saw that she was telling him the truth, "You got along great."

"I think she recognized a part of herself in me," Blair explained before rethinking her choice of words, "Or rather, I recognized someone in her."

"I don't follow," Chuck responded getting a bit perturbed by the turn of events, but also happy that Blair managed rise and succeed. What could he say; he was a sucker for her happiness.

"All you need to know is that you lost," Blair reiterated, "But don't be too hard on yourself. It was a solid effort."

"Tomorrow's another day," Chuck responded with a smirk as she leaned towards him.

"It is," Blair sighed softly, "Unfortunately for you, you don't get to join me in my celebration since you chose to work against me. Since the night was a success your punishment isn't as severe as it could have been."

"I'll take whatever you deem necessary my Queen," Chuck responded with a slight bowing of his head.

Blair smiled at him as she gave him his sentencing, "You are hereby cut off, indefinitely."

Chuck didn't like that punishment at all; especially with no set end in sight. Choosing to refrain from fighting his sentencing, knowing that it would only make it worse for him in the long run he reluctantly nodded his head in agreement. "What exactly does that entail?"

"You only touch if I initiate it, and you have to stop when I do," Blair explained easily, "But I can guarantee you this…there'll be no sex for you."

Chuck pursed his lips as he turned his head away, knowing that it was going to be a very long drought. It was one thing when he went an entire month without her when they were on separate continents but to have her so close and at his disposal to play with and not be allowed to until she said otherwise was definitely going to be tough. And Chuck didn't even have the option to bury himself in Victrola any longer.

Chuck took a deep breath and accepted his punishment, "As you wish, my Queen."

"Good night, Chuck," Blair responded with a light smile, knowing that she was playing with fire, but never had the thought of getting burned ever felt so good.

Chuck smirked back; it was going to be one hell of a game, "Good night, Blair."

Blair walked back towards Serena's room, playing with the ends of her hair as she glanced at him over her shoulder, unable to stop herself from getting one last look at the guy that held her heart.

**xoxo**

After leaving Blair's party, Nate and Catherine swung by her place so she could get what Nate could only describe as his first payment. As he sat in the back of Catherine's limo waiting for her to come back, He found himself, once again, questioning himself on if he was doing the right thing. He wanted to help his mother through this hard time and he was grateful to Catherine for providing him with a way to do it. He just couldn't help but remember those budding feelings resurface with Vanessa earlier when they were talking. They went their separate ways at the end of May because they thought it was best what with their own separate problems to deal with and digest.

Nate sighed as he noticed that his problems didn't settle down like he hoped, they only got bigger and much more complex. Glancing out the window towards the building and seeing that Catherine was nowhere to be found he pulled out his phone to make a much overdue phone call.

"Hey, Nate," Vanessa answered after a couple of rings.

Immediately Nate began to smile in response and sighed out, "Hey."

"So that maybe took a little longer than you thought," Vanessa spoke lightly, making it sound like it wasn't a big deal that he was late.

"A little bit, yeah," Nate agreed as he looked out the window beside him out onto the street as the cars of New York sped by him before he closed his eyes and bit the proverbial bullet. "Uh, hey, listen. I'm- I'm so sorry, but I'm not going to be able to make it back tonight."

"I- I figured. It's- it's okay. I was tired anyway," Vanessa responded, her tone giving him a sense of relief that she wasn't mad at him for flaking out on her, "So we'll hang out another time."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure," Nate agreed eagerly. Even though he developed this strange agreement with Catherine it didn't mean that he had to give up seeing Vanessa. "Um…so look, I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay. Bye," Vanessa responded.

"Bye," Nate finished and hung up the phone with another sigh. When was it that his life got so complicated that he couldn't just go out with the girl he wanted without there being some other thing to hold him back? Nate had to chuckle to himself because there was a very small window of time that his love life was as easy as that.

At the sound of the door opening beside him, Nate glanced over as Catherine climbed in beside him with a sultry smile. He pasted on a smile in return as he watched her open her bag and pull out a large, folded envelope and handed it over to him. Nate didn't take it at first. He just looked at it and then looked at Catherine. Here was his last chance to back out. This was his last chance to just walk away and come up with another idea to help his family with their problems.

It was then that Nate realized that he was tired. He was tired of thinking, of worrying, and he just wanted everything to be fixed and to go back to the way it used to be. And Catherine was offering that to him. A chance to go back to the life where Nate's biggest problem was wanting to not go to Dartmouth for school like his parents planned for him to and what was he going to do with his future. Thinking of the future was a lot less daunting than thinking about his current problems of the present.

Nate slowly took the envelope from Catherine, his decision made with no way of going back. He was going to see this through till the bitter end. "Are we good?" Catherine asked lightly, not taking her eyes off of him.

"We're good," Nate responded softly as he looked down at the envelope in his hands before looking back up at Catherine.

She smiled and gently took his hand in hers as the car started driving them away to the hotel room that Catherine had reserved for the night. All Nate could do was lay his head back and sigh as he went back to looking out the window as New York continued to speed by. It was amazing what a year can do to change things. Nate could only hope that, just like last year, things won't stay the same for long. He wasn't sure how long he could survive living his life the way it currently was.

**Every summer, vacationers traverse the globe in search of new sights and experiences. But when it comes to scandal, I'll take Manhattan every time.**

**Welcome Home, Upper East Siders.**

**You know you missed me.**

**X.O.X.O.,**

**Gossip Girl**

**A/N: Alright! I know it's been a month since my last update, and I've just given up on posting every two weeks and just do my best to post once a month. I have an inconsistent work schedule at the Wal-Mart, with the added two povs and storylines in comparison to the first story and basically doing an original SL with Chair to keep it relevant and consistent. Let's just say that I've reached a better understanding to writers who take a while to update and I want to take this moment to formally apologize to all of those wonderful writers that I've criticized out loud and in my mind for taking forever and a day to update because this experience with this sequel has shown me what they go through in order to produce a great story.**

**Now, I hope that this 43 page, 21+k word chapter will more than make up for your month long wait along with my most sincere apology for taking so long, but just know that I HAVE been working on it a little bit each day. Here's an alternative though for you, I'm gonna need you to sound off in the reviews, normally I write a chapter to the equivalent of one episode of the season. Sometimes, like the last two chapters, I split it in half into two chapters. Would you rather I do that from now on and be able to update a bit faster, or would you prefer that you get nice long chapters like this? I'm fine either way, I just want to do my best to make this story great and post as consistently as I can.**

**I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter! What did you think of Chuck and Marcus stand-off? How about Blair in regards to Serena and Dan, not to mention Serena and Dan?! Or we could just talk about B and her schemes. I wanted to bring in a bit of season 6 Blair to this story in regards to her wanting to become a powerful woman in her own right. And in true Blair fashion she gets so caught up that she almost screws herself over. **

**I have to say that next chapter's going to be fun since Chuck's being cut off and of course Chuck Bass is only going to accept that for so long. ;) The lights will go out and so much is going to happen that by the time the lights come back on, nothing will be the same!**

**I love you all for your patience and encouragement and I love your reviews and PMs. I'm amazed at 28 reviews after only two chapters and I'm so grateful to the old and the new readers and welcome to the newbies who've alerted/fave both this story and the Queen and her Dark Knight!**

**Lots of love and I hope to post as soon as I'm able to!**

**-Plei4fun**


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